How often do you hear your friends, family, or acquaintances say they would like to go back to simpler times such as the 1950s - the era where you could wear fancy poodle skirts, drive big cars, eat at your favorite diner, or catch a movie at the drive in. Americans tend to think of the positive aspects of the 1950’s. Unfortunately during that era women were treated unfairly. Even though women had rights, they were still unequal to men. Fortunately feminism has progressed since then. Today, women comprise over 50% of the workforce. Nonetheless, men still cling to stereotypes that should have been destroyed long ago, whether in the workplace, at home, or in society. In society in the 1950’s the average woman played an inferior role to men. Men considered themselves superior to women and often expected women to cater to their wishes. Females were expected to adjust their feelings , thoughts and actions to accommodate men's beliefs. The “do not speak unless spoken to” rule was common for women. They were expected to obey their husbands and fathers without hesitation. In order to be judged as respectable, they would have to remain sexually pure until marriage. After a minimum amount of schooling, women had to find a suitable young man to marry. In some instances a woman’s parents would orchestrate an arranged marriage to benefit their social status or income. Being put in such a position deteriorated a woman’s power. Today, women have fewer guidelines to abide by. First, women
For centuries women had had to bow to men they were taught never to speak unless called upon or spoken to. That their sole purpose in life was to be a homemaker; a servant to the men in their lives fathers, brothers, sons. As time progressed women began to fight for their right to receive equal rights, education and vote. But that wasn’t enough in the year 2013 women still made eighty cents to every man’s dollar but that all changed one day. Women who were sick of being oppressed had risen up against the male chauvinism within society of the united states.The first measure was to take all men out of all positions of decision-making power immediately, and of any kind of social, professional position whatsoever. The men of society were
Gender oppression and gender roles in marriage during the late 1800s. The role or behavior learned by a person as appropriate to their gender, determined by the prevailing cultural norms. There were fixed gender roles assigned by male-dominated societies. The man’s role being that of the husband and rational thinker, and the woman’s role being that of the dutiful wife who does not question her husband’s authority. Back then it was normal for the women to be seen as weak minded and lesser than the men. Even from religious figures like pastors and priest in the 18 and 1900s contributed to the oppression of women in marriage. New brides were told that they are the submissive partner
Both the Victorian Era and 1950s and 1960s America featured inflexible expectations of a wife and her views on marriage. Grant Allen, a Victorian essayist, in “Plain Words on the Women Question” in 1889, wrote, “We ought frankly to recognize that most women must be wives and mothers: that most women should therefore be trained, physically, morally, socially, and mentally, in the way best fitting for them to be wives and mothers” (Broadview Anthology 628). Essentially, Allen holds the belief that all women are meant to serve as an asset to men, to complement men. Additionally, his use of the word “train” connotes that women should be disciplined to fit this role, which betrays the lack of equality between the sexes. He further argues that it goes against nature for women to desire more than motherhood and wifehood. He chastises women who attempt to oppose their “duty,” “instead of boasting of their sexlessness as a matter of pride, they ought to keep it in the dark, and to be ashamed of it” (628). In other words, to be feminine is to mother children and to marry a man. Deviating from this neatly structured plan for a woman’s obligation is to become unfeminine.
Many women throughout the 18th and 19th century were discriminated against because of their sex. For white women like Clara Barton founder of the Red Cross Association, Charlotte Perkins Gilman an innovative writer and thinker , they had it a little easier breaking into the business world. The road was difficult for women to have their voices heard, however for black women they experienced horrific and animalistic treatment based on their sex and skin color. Many strong women that are not named in history because of hate pushed through these difficulties of societal acceptance to make great advances for women.
The 1950’s were cookie cutter; there was usually a working father, a homemaker mother, and a couple of kids. Although women were working and had jobs in the 1950’s, after WWII many women still stayed home being a house wife if the husband’s income could afford it. If women had jobs, and the job was unnecessary they were considered selfish. Having a husband at this time was more important than having a job or a degree. Marriage in the 1950’s was highly based around religion. Pre-marital sex was considered unacceptable, and women were married at ages as low as nineteen (People & Events, 1).
In the late 19th century, women struggled to break from the societal norms in which were expected of them. These societal guidelines dictated how a woman should behave, how a woman should think, and what a woman should desire in her own life. Created by the patriarchal atmosphere of the 19th century, society pressured young women to wed and bear children. Written inside a California newspaper in January 1884, an article titled “The Household” elucidates the role of a women, “While she does so much for the comfort of others, she nearly ruins her own health and life. It is because she cannot be easy and comfortable when there is the least disorder or dirt to be seen.”
I would like to dispel the idea that Black women were passive observers during the women’s movement. It’s understandable that they would be perceived as such. A lack of photographs certainly did not help their cause. Photography played a crucial role in chronicling events from the pre-Civil War well onto the passing of the 19th Amendment. There is historic value in a documentary photograph. It captures a moment in its actual time. There are no images of African-American women marching ten-by-ten along New York City Avenues. And so, without this type physical evidence, they are easily written out of history.
Furthermore at a young age a woman is groomed to become submissive to their husbands,and their responsibilities in a household. Also “women in the nineteenth-century were considered week not only physically but also mentally”(1). Therefore they were expected to carry out domestic rules such as cooking, cleaning, taking care of the children, and being subsive to their husbands.
I agree with your opinion that women of this era are stronger and more independent. While the old stereotypes of women describe them with the trait of delicacy and dependence, women of this generation are smart and hard-working to achieve their goals. Actually, women have done very well in many fields, which is revealed in the website womensportreport.com. On the other hand, your statements, “Women athletics appear in these articles with radiant faces and happy smile. Although they don’t need to do make ups or wear fashion clothes, they look healthy and elegant with full of energy and confidence” manifest a very significant concept that women should not be judged by their appearance, nor should they gain acceptance by pleasing men’s desire,
Stereotypes about men and women have always been a thing for centuries. In hunter-gatherer days, the men hunted and gathered the food, while the women took care of the kids. Over time, women got to have a job outside of their home like nursing, secretary and maid, while the men still did hard manual labor and fought for their country. However, after women began serving as soldiers, people’s viewpoints and attitudes changed.Women also got to got to college and vote because their opinions were no longer seen as unimportant or useless. Despite these advances on women’s role in life, not much has changed over the past fifty years.
“Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.”-Marilyn Monroe. For years women have been striving to be equal with men, but women have been paying for it. Out of all the companies in this world, less than ten percent of all CEOs are women. When a man and a women have the same job, women tend to be paid less, and around the world women have been grouped into stereotypes. So I strongly believe that women can do anything a man can do, and that was proven over the years. Now and days women are being stereotyped by the world around them, they are being paid less, and all bigger companies are run by males. If people looked harder at the world around them, they can change the way others look at women.
Girls, young women, and mature mothers. Society has consistently given women strict guidelines, rules and principles on how to be an appropriate member of a man’s society. These rules are set at a young age and enforced thoroughly into adulthood. When not followed accordingly, women often times too many face reprimanding through means of verbal abuse, physical abuse, or social exile. In the midst of all these strict guidelines and social etiquette for girls, a social rebellion started among girls and women and gender roles were broken, however the social rebellion did not and does not affect all girls and women. For instance, in less socially developed places, young girls on the brink of womanhood are still strongly persuaded to be a man’s idea of a “woman”.
Women are sometimes viewed as incapable of doing work that was done by men, such as jobs involving physical labor, become professional, and free thinkers. This stereotype continues to close women opportunities in our society. I believe that we should be visualized as multitasking. There are countries that women are seen better as raising children, stay at home, and be a house wife.
Women have fought for their equality between men throughout history. Women have fought for their right to vote, the right to receive education and more. Now in modern society, women legally possess equal rights as men. However, there is another huge wall women have to climb over; society’s gender norms and expectation. Gender norms and expectations are culturally constructed in a way that has historically been to the detriment of women; even though women have made significant advancements in sport, in the home and in the workplace, they still have to deal with limitations that are left over from previous gender expectations and assumptions that have held back women in the past. This contention is
The 1960s brought great change and disruption to the political and social landscape in the United States. Americans made their voices heard both in the streets and in the voting booth; more Americans were voting in the 1960s than in any other decade since World War II. Additionally, women, African-Americans, and anti-war demonstrators challenged the status quo of American society. In the 1960s, American women were given a voice in society in a way that they never had; they began to work outside of the home, and with the invention of the birth control pill, they were able to gain control over their reproductive rights. In terms of warfare, the United States changed its policy on Vietnam in 1963. Due to the widespread fear of communism in Southeast Asia, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in response to a North Vietnam attack on American warships. The war escalated and, for the first time, the country instituted a mandatory draft, drafting more than 1.4 million men into the war. According to David Knoke, “As the Vietnam War became unpopular, anti-war voices spilled out into the streets and on college campuses. Students for a Democratic Society