Feminism During The 1950's

Women of the 1950’s through the 1960’s are ridden with male oppression and self-esteem issues. The book Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates and an episode of Mad Men titled The Shoot have a lot in common. The differences and similarities between the leading women in both of these stories from the 1950’s show that times are different today. The women of the 1950’s had a dream for the future and their dream has finally become a reality for American women. From Mad Men, Betty Draper’s dream of becoming a model and in Revolutionary Road, April Wheeler’s dream of traveling the world are actual realities for women today. Their dreams show similarities, differences and the “American Dream” that every woman has.

- “In World War II, the second wave of feminism focused on the workplace, sexuality, family and reproductive rights. During a time when the United States was already trying to restructure itself, it was perceived that women had met their equality goals with the exception of the failure of the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (which has still yet to be passed).”

What exactly is Feminism? Feminism is all about women's liberation; the liberation in a world where men are not only looked as superior, but also run the world and tell women what we can or cannot do. Feminists dream of a world where we can be treated equally as men. We do not care

the house becoming the homemaker once the war was over. The 1950s has also been

The women’s liberation movement (or feminism as it is now known) of the 1960s and 1970s touched every home, business, and school (WA, 705). The movement even touched the sports and entertainment industries, in fact, “There are few areas of contemporary life untouched by feminism” (WA, 717). The word feminism in the early 1960’s wasn’t often used and when it was it was used with condescension or hatred. However, in the late sixties that changed thanks to a new group of women. This new diverse group of women included the: young, old, heterosexual, lesbians, working class, and even the privileged. This diverse group came together and collectively created the second wave of feminism.

Imagine being a women in the 1930s and being told what to do, what to wear, and how to act. Most women were employed by the 1930s, but they would either work for free or very low pay. Women would have the same job and do the same amount of work as the men in the workplace, but they would still only get paid half of what the men were paid. They would have to get a full education to be considered equal with the a man who has only been through elementary school. Many people saw women getting jobs as taking the paying jobs from the men. Women in the 1930s had limited rights, were told to be proper, and could not live their lives as they wanted to.

Underlying the feminism movement of the 1960s and 1970s was the “white racist ideology.” The women’s movement of the 1960s was in fact the white women’s movement. It was an opportunity for white feminists to raise their voices, but they only spoke about the plight of the white woman and excluded themselves from the collective group of women across all races and social standings. White women assumed that their experience was the experience of all women. When black women proclaimed that the movement was focused on the oppression of white women, the white feminists asserted “common oppression” and retorted with “oppression cannot be measured.” Ironically, feminists in the 1960s compared their oppression to the oppression of African Americans as

The feminist movement of the 1960’s focused solely on the improvement and well- being of women. The idea of Feminism is a critical theory as it is an analytical examination of social conditions and what tools could be utilized to proactively improve these conditions. Overcoming the consistent barriers women had to endure during this era remains prevalent and continues to have psychological effects. In order to strengthen one’s mindset regarding feminism, we must first refer back and understand the intellectual history of the women’s movement and examine areas of how counseling can assist with overcoming these impediments. The Feminist philosophy is the philosophical dimension of intellectual feminism. Many philosophers understand their intellectual history and the history of the women's movement in terms of three "waves."

Feminism is both an intellectual commitment and a political movement that seeks justice for women and the end of sexism in all forms. However, there are many different kinds of feminism. So some have found it useful to think of the women's movement in the US as occurring in "waves" . On the wave model, the struggle to achieve basic political rights during the period from the mid-19th century until the 1920's counts as "first wave" feminism waned between the two world wars, to be "revived" in the late 1960's and early 1970's as "second wave" feminism. The concept of 'waves' is not meant to imply that organised feminism disappeared in the

A lot was going on in the world in the 1950’s. World War II had just ended, the Civil Rights Movement was just getting started, the “Baby Boom” was under way, and women in sports play a very uneven role. In the 1950’s men really preferred the masculine role, they wanted to be the man of the house and with that, the best athlete. It was happening all around the world in the 1950’s, men wanted to show the ladies who really was in charge, and as a result woman in sports were not fairly treated. How are women treated in regard to sports and what stereotypes are shown and what role do these women play in the 1950’s? During the 1950’s, magazines and newspapers degraded women athletes by not highlighting their talents necessarily, but more of

Some accomplishments of the second wave were the reform of states divorce laws and federal legislation that mandated equal pay and equal education opportunities. Furthermore, this wave is split into two branches: liberal and radical. Radicals sought to address causes of the oppression of women. Liberal feminists worked in existing institutions systems under the assumption that the institutions themselves were not useless. Thus, their goal was to equalize, not to replace or transform. During WWII especially, women replaced nearly six million men who were across the ocean. Women appeared in factories and manufacturing places and even organized a national baseball league. This is right about when the figure “Rosie the Riveter” became a

Feminism was coined in the early 20th century. It is a women’s movement with the focus of gender relationships. There has been many different waves of feminism in the United States throughout history. Liberal, Radical, Marxist and Cultural Feminism are just a few examples. Within the different waves of feminism, there has also been racial inequality.

The Women's Rights Movement was a series of of political campaigns on women's rights. It fought for equality between a man and a women. The first wave of feminism started around the middle or upper class white women and involved suffrage and political equality. They fought for the right to vote. And just wanted to give women some of the same opportunities men had at this time. This movement gave women a new purpose in America.

Historically, women have been considered the weaker sex. This idea turned women into a target of violence in many different ways. The ideas of the role of a woman in society and in households place a burden on the backs of young girls who want to be successful and don’t see themselves being runners up to men for the rest of their lives. Women are objectified in every way, all the way from how they look to how music artists represent them. Women can’t even have sex without men and other women calling them sluts and whores.

After women won the right to vote, the second wave of feminism began in the 1960s and continued on to the 90’s. This wave was highly associated with the anti-war and civil rights movement and the movement started growing conscious to a variety of minority groups all over the world. Out of three waves, the second wave’s voice was increasingly radical and theoretical as sexuality and reproductive rights were dominant issues. Protest began in Atlantic City in 1968 and 1969 against the Miss America Pageant. Many activists thought it to be a degrading “cattle parade” that reduced women to only objects produced by the patriarchy. Along with fighting against sexism in cartoons and politics, second wave feminists found their voice among other movements such as Civil Rights and the Anti-War movement. While the first wave was fought by middle class white women, the second wave invited and incorporated women of color and developing nations demonstrating that race, class, and gender oppression were all related and seeking sisterhood and solidarity (Rampton).