Portrayal Of Women In The 1950s

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.

It is often said that the media and the arts are an accurate reflection of any given community. This is especially true in American pop-culture, where television shows depict the various stereotypes attributed to men and women and the roles they play in society. House, a highly popular medical drama that revolves around Dr. Gregory House and his diagnostic team, is a particularly good example as it represents the true state of the traditional gender roles in American culture today by, both, redefining and reinforcing them over the course of the show.

Television allows people to see more and choose what they want to be. Women need to be shown in occupations that are not the stereotypical, such as the occupations of nurse, maid, sales assistant, or models. Men are often shown as the breadwinners while women are shown as being emotional and domestic caregivers. Television ought to demonstrate strong older women instead of feeble grandmothers baking cookies. Teenage girls should be represented on television as being able to have serious conversations and feeling that their brains are as important as their looks. Women are often shown as only being able to get what they want by using sexuality. Television audiences certainly must demand more from the television shows the audience watches.

As society has continued to evolve socially, politically and culturally, so has the persona of television. Societal transformations have shape and reshaped television throughout its history. Programs ranging from ethical series to variety shows to family sitcoms mirrored not only the audience taste of entertainment, but also the change of values within society during the increase in television use. Gender roles and a strong sense of family intimacy were among the most prominently highlighted transformations reflected in television. Women and family contribute significantly when analyzing the antiquity of the television. Television programming was designed to emphasize family togetherness through illuminating the importance of domestic household maintenance. Domestic sitcoms, such as The Donna Reed Show exhibited these liberal roles in which women were expected to subjugate to subordinate statuses and confine their

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

Life in the 1950s was a time where when a women was married and has kids she would stay home taking care of the meals, and children. Men would be the ones to go out and find a good job that helps with money problems. Also sometimes married women would hire a nanny to also help around the house. In the 1950s men respected women more than they do today because women were supposed to be beautiful and elegant. Also men were able to be a gentleman around women.

On September 20, 1984 a show aired that changed the way we view gender roles on television. Television still perpetuates traditional gender stereotypes and in reflecting them TV reinforces them by presenting them as the norm (Chandler, 1). The Cosby Show, challenged the typical gender stereotyping of television, daring to go against the dominant social values of its time period. In its challenge of the dominant social view, the show redefined the portrayal of male and female roles in television. It redefined the gender role in the work place, in social expectations, and in household responsibilities. The Cosby Show supported Freidan in her view of “castigating the phony happy housewife heroine of the

On September 20, 1984 a show aired that changed the way we view gender roles on television. Television still perpetuates traditional gender stereotypes and in reflecting them TV reinforces them by presenting them as the norm (Chandler, 1). The Cosby Show, challenged the typical gender stereotyping of television, daring to go against the dominant social values of its time period. In its challenge of the dominant social view, the show redefined the portrayal of male and female roles in television. It redefined the gender role in the work place, in social expectations, and in household responsibilities. The Cosby Show supported Freidan in her view of "castigating the phony happy housewife heroine of the women's magazines" (Douglas 136).

For centuries, women have struggled to fit society's expectations, but the 1950s and 60s were a prominent time when gender roles were a big influence on everyone's lives. All throughout history women have had constant pressure from society to look and act a certain way to fill gender role expectations. There were battles women had to face, including how they looked and acted. Gender roles including dress codes, required etiquette, beauty standards, cooking and cleaning, and education have greatly affected and limited American women historically in the 1950s and 60s.

Brown’s song is self-explanatory, for it attributes many inventions that was made strictly and merely by men. As he says “You see, man made the cars to take us over the road/ Man made the train to carry the heavy load/ Man made electric light to take us out of the dark/ Man made the boat for the water, like Noah made the ark,” expressing the power of men in the world. This long list of achievements however does prove the stereotype of the position of men and women in the society.

The character trope of an independent woman in television has changed dramatically over the past 60 years. Women played minor roles and were never seen as a main character. They were used as props and were always seen with their husband and perfect children. The woman would play the perfect housewife and would make their man look good. Between 1970’s and now television has shown a wide variety of independent women such as single mothers, older successful divorced characters and happily married successful working mums. Television shows now depict relatable everyday female characters not picture perfect Stepford Wife types. This report will discuss and compare the past 50 years of independent women in television, from

During the 18th and 19th century, patriarchy has been responsible for designing women’s role in society. Throughout history, men have been deemed as superior while women have been regarded as inferior. Society has this ideology that women are the sole laborers of a household; they were not granted the same privileges as men. In addition, women have been negatively affected by stereotyping. Women have been portrayed on television as being submissive to men. The depiction of women on television portrays the implications of a societal view of women. From a man's perspective, an ideal woman is a housewife who does all the household duties herself. However, over the years, studies have shown that gender roles have slowly advanced. Women began

The aim was to study how women are portrayed in “Desperate Housewives” and how the modern women have similar identities as traditional housewives.

Growing up as a child with parents that were both fairly busy with work I often found myself sat in front of a television either waiting for the day to begin or to end. I remember watching shows and seeing how the boys always seemed to be more outspoken, hyper-masculine and the leader in a given situation while the girls were always the passive ones who were depicted as shy followers. Now that I am older I find myself watching even more television, allowing me to see how the media depicts men and women in society. For example, The Big Bang Theory, in its earlier seasons, it only had one female lead, Penny. Her character was very stereotypical in the sense that she was the scattebrained neighbor. The way that men and women are portrayed has

Media today gives us gender stereotypes. From movies to television to even music videos, the entertainment industry gives people the image that males are more dominate over females by showing females as the foremost parental figure, homemakers, and sex objects. However, ABC’s new hit show Desperate Housewives quickly made a dent in American pop culture not for these gender stereotypes, but the truth behind the most dominant female stereotype of housewives.