Ideal Woman

After World War II, the nation was blooming. Everything was growing, people were going to college, and wealth grew. The idea of the perfect American life was developed, this included a husband that worked and a wife that stayed home and took care of the house and children. To look at how women are affected by this perfect life I am analyzing “Governor Adlai Stevenson Tells College Women about Their Place in Life, 1955” and “Good Housekeeping: Every Executive Needs a Perfect Wife, 1956”.

The pains and dangers they have endured in our defence give them the right to expect it” (46). The arrival of the Great Depression in the 1930s did nothing to lessen this sentiment. Due to the lack of jobs as a result of the Depression, women’s jobs were not seen as a priority, in fact, in a reply to a letter written in 1936 to the National Employment Commission, the Commissioner wrote that “[Women] have a lot of rights in good times, when there is lots of employment,” in an attempt to justify the takeover of women’s jobs (87). Once again, women were being edged out of the workforce. Society ignored the contributions they made during the war and their worth as workers, instead impressing upon them the role of the homemaker that women were trying to move away from. During the 1940s women were sequestered into a role of submissiveness and domesticity, both at home and in the workplace. Post World War II Canada promoted the dream of domestic bliss to boost the economy. Women were expected to be stay-at-home mothers while the men were the breadwinners. The Canadian magazine ‘Chatelaine’

The Great Depression was a very influential era in American history, affecting many future generations. One of the most prevalent impacts it had on society was the extreme poverty that swept across the nation, affecting both people in cities and in the country. The main cause for this poverty was the mass loss of jobs among the middle class. Millions lost their jobs and consequently their homes. Families lived out of tents and cars in shanty towns or Hoovervilles. In these camps, many people didn’t have their basic human needs met, children and adults alike starved. They lived in clothes that were caked in dirt and tattered, too small for growing children and too cold for the frail elderly. Government relief programs attempted to help but offered little support to the now impoverished families of the millions that lost everything.

The Depression changed social structure in America forever. “The real story of the 1930’s is how individual families endured and survived, whether battling the despair of hunger and unemployment in the city of the fear of unending drought and forced migration in the dust bowl of the Great plains.” (Press, Petra pg 6)

She examines the consequences of these years for women in their homes and workplaces, and in the dance halls and in the city court rooms. In her work, Katrina Srigley argues that young women were central to the labour market and family economies of Depression era. In it she shows how factors such as gender, race, class and marital status shaped women lives and influenced their job options, family arrangements, and leisure activities. She talks about women who have been forgotten and whose life experiences were left unstudied. She also highlights how women have learnt to compromise with the joys and pains of their live.

In America, the years 1929 through 1941 were not necessarily the brightest years the country has seen, but certainly should not be forgotten, and here’s why: during the Great Depression, one may say the true colors of the nation, showed through. As people lost money and unemployment rates skyrocketed (seen in document 1), companies were picky as who to hire, usually hiring the average white male over any other minority (women included). On the other hand, however, many people came together as a community and helped restore America to its former glory.

“No cracked earth, no blistering sun, no burning wind, no grasshoppers are a permanent match for the indomitable American farmers and stockmen and their wives and children, who have carried on through desperate days and inspire us with their self-reliance, their tenacity, and their courage” (qtd. In Lookinbill 89). Thus spoke President Franklin D. Roosevelt during a broadcast campaign in Washington, D.C. in 1936 (89). By the early 1930s the nation was in the grips of the Great Depression (“We are California” 1). Millions of Americans were without food and shelter, and as well suffering to grasp hope when it comes to extreme poverty (1).

In the 1930s, The Great Depression swept over America and life was greatly affected. Poverty, unemployment, and homelessness grew in the East causing women to get more involved with the daily activities outside of the household. In “The Grapes Of Wrath” most men went to work, either in factories or on the lands, while the women stayed home. Eleanor Roosevelt became a key voice inside the White House, she took on an active role in programs and supporting women working on the home front. The hardships women faced during the Great Depression and women’s involvement in the labor force during World War II, led women to have a more independent and influential role in the family.

The depression caused multiple hardships for them to endure. World War II saw many women join the workforce due to necessity, taking up jobs that had previously been considered only for men. Social attitudes towards what women were capable of doing had been changed due to the experience; this point in time was of high importance. During the time in the text, woman’s rights were very underdeveloped, women were powerless and men were alpha. The female characters were often portrayed as nothing but housewives that weren’t able to express their own opinions without facing a critical

They lived in a shack with one room and a kitchen. Their daily diet consisted of dried beans and biscuits because they couldn’t afford meat. When Anne started school her mother could not afford to buy clothes so Anne wore the same outfits 2-3 times a week. As Anne grew up she wanted to help relieve some of the family’s financial burdens so she got small jobs to help out. Soon Anne was making as much as her mother.

The depression changed everyone’s role in society and people were fighting to stay alive. Women had no room to fight for women’s rights because they were too worried about feeding and clothing themselves and their families. Women who had worked so hard to advance their careers and for political freedom found themselves once again back in the domestic roles that the Cult of Domesticity had laid out for them. Moms were responsible for stretching resources and making sure that everyone was fed. This meant that sometimes women would go hungry just so their husbands and children could eat.

In American history, the Great Depression ranks second as the longest and most severe crisis ever experienced only dislodged from the first position by the Civil War. The Great Depression marked a period of economic downturn that resulted in severe declines in output, acute deflation, financial insecurity and severe unemployment rates. This was a sharp contrast from the early 1920’s when the country was experiencing a period of tremendous economic growth and prosperity. The Great Depression was brought about by a number of factors that included the declining consumer demand, a natural slowdown in the cycle of business, misguided government policies, panics within the financial markets and environmental disasters among others. Everyone felt the effects of the Great Depression on every part of the country, rural or urban. From the rich to the poor, the young to the old, white Americans to African Americans, no one was spared from the devastating effects of the depression. The experience of millions Americans suffering as a result of the Great Depression paint a clear picture on how serious the crisis was. Many Americans believed that it was the government’s role to alleviate them from the suffering and also offer relief aid to curb hunger and starvation. Letters sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mrs. Roosevelt with photographs taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) show and tell the social experiences of many Americans during that period.

The fortunate middle class Americans unexpectedly, during the Great Depression, didn’t even look twice at the luxuries of the world. Just as any American during that time, they had their focus on the necessities of life such as food and shelter. Many worried about losing their home because they could barely keep up with the paying bills. As a result, the Homeowners Loan Corporation (HOLC) helped refinance home loans supporting Americans and allowing them to stay within their homes. Many middle class and upper class women began writing their own personal budgeting accounts to help them pay bills as well as food. They also taught other women how to properly budget their own small sum of money. They budgeted to help them keep control of the money they had and make sure that they had the right amount of money with them all the time. In an article written by Richard C. and Sharon M. Hanes told a little bit about a lady and how she and other women handled money for the food for their family and others saying, “...prided herself on "making do" when feeding her family. If very careful, a woman could feed a family of six on five dollars a week...Mothers could make a pot roast last an entire week...Vegetable gardens sprang up in backyards and vacant city lots. Women did their own canning, pickling, and preserving…” (Hanes). These women were inspiring and thought of the most interesting

However, when their mother came through the door and told them of a hungry family, the 4 women did not hesitate in giving away their luscious breakfast to those in need. The children delivered the food to the family and “a poor, bare, miserable room it was, with broken windows, no fire, ragged bedclothes, a sick mother, wailing baby, and a group of pale, hungry children cuddled under one old quilt, trying to keep warm”(24). The sisters realize what a harsh environment they live in, and because the setting is so pessimistic, they try to share the little wealth they have so that everyone may live long full lives. The setting in which they live, houses many people who have even less wealth than their own family. However, because of this dreadful place, they try and make sure that their community, or their family, is taken care of, even at the expense of their luxuries.

In December 1941, the United States' economy was still recovering from the hard-hitting depression. The Great Depression reinforced the system of women as the backbone of the family, who was to stay home and take care of the household duties and raise the children. These duties often had to be carried out through unsophisticated