The Status Of The American Economy

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 Role Women Played in the Social Reform Movements of the Antebellum Period Comprehending the lives of American women and their roles is fundamental for understanding the entire antebellum period in America. The period 1820 to 1870 in the United States was marked by a forceful and widespread debate on woman's roles and their proper vocation whether this be in the home or outside the home and becoming wage earners. This was, however, still a time in which females were encouraged to be pure, dutiful, domestic and compliant by men and the government. On the other hand, due through this, the evident truth was ignored that was that women’s roles were steadily beginning to reach outside the family and

After marriage, the husband was considered lord and master of the family. But not all the women were meek and submissive. By the 1700's, the woman’s status had rapidly improved in colonial America. A wife and child made as much as a man did. Although women did not have equality with men, their status greatly improved from their status in Europe. A woman’s station in life was determined by the position of their husbands or fathers. The women of the poorest families, compiled to work in the fields, stood at the bottom of the social ladder. One of the surest signs of the accomplishments a family had made, was the exemption of their women from the fields. Before 1740, girls were trained in household crafts and the practical arts of family management. But afterwards they began to study subjects that required reading and studying such subjects as grammer and arithmetic. The women of the upper classes occupied themselves mainly with planning the work of the home and with supervising the domestic servants. Along with these tasks the women also baked, nursed, and sewed. But there were many social restrictions placed on the women of that time. One such restriction was that a wife, in absence of her husband, was not allowed to lodge men even if they were close relatives. For

The United States economy is racing ahead at dangerous speeds, and it may be too late to prevent the return of widespread inflation. Ideally the economy should move ahead gradually and grow at a steady manageable rate. Mae West once stated “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful” and it seems the U.S. Treasury Secretary agrees. The Secretary announced that due to our increasing surplus and booming economy, instead of having an outsized tax cut, we should use the surplus to further pay down the national debt. A tax cut, though most Americans would favor it initially, would prove counter productive. Cutting taxes would over stimulate an already raging economy, and enhance the possibilities of an

In the 19th century, the Market Revolution was created, resulting significance in American history by redefining the roles for genders, especially for women. During this time, factories began to appear changing the nature of work for men and women. Although, women were employed cheaper because at the time in Colonial America, men were considered superior to women, even in terms of morality. Some women worked effectively by applying their strength of factories, while other women adapted to a private lifestyle avoiding conflicts in the market economy. However, the privileges were determined based on a family’s class status, which were middle and upper classmen that gave a higher advantage than those who were poor. Those who were married had no

1. The first essay clearly shows the impact that an ideology of domesticity on women in New England in the 1830’s. The writer at first calls this time period a “paradox in the “progress” of women’s history in the United States”. During this time apparently two contradictory views on women’s relations to society clashed, unusually, those two being domesticity, which essentially limited women, giving them a “sex-specific” role that they must abide to, this mostly being present at the home with their husbands and whatever kids they may or may not have had at that time, and feminism, which essentially tried to remove this domesticity, trying to remove sex-specific limits on women’s opportunities and

In the early years of my grandparents’ growing families, both my grandmothers stayed home as homemakers to take care of their children while my grandfathers worked on the farm. I noticed that later, both my grandmothers began to work outside of the home to contribute to the financial needs of the family. The change in their work can be attributed to the both the social and economic changes that took place (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013). Since then, the women in my family have worked full-time, including myself. The men in the family have done work in business since both my grandfathers did so. My father and my brothers have definitely followed their example in that

During the early 1800's women were stuck in the Cult of Domesticity. Women had been issued roles as the moral keepers for societies as well as the nonworking house-wives for families. Also, women were considered unequal to their male companions legally and socially. However, women’s efforts during the 1800’s were effective in challenging traditional intellectual, social, economical, and political attitudes about a women’s place in society.

In the early nineteenth century, women were expected to be, “‘angels in the house,’ loving, self-sacrificing, and chaste wives, mothers and daughters or they are… ultimately doomed” (King et al. 23). Women of this time were supposed to be domestic creatures and not tap so far into their intellectual abilities (King et al.). The role of women in the nineteenth century is described:

During the Industrial Revolution, an exponential amount of working-class and middle-class Americans moved to the cities, seeking to better their lives and to break away from the American tradition of farming. Family dynamics also changed due to the Industrial Revolution, making the need for a large family obsolete. Children were no longer helpers on the farm, making them more of a liability than an asset. In turn, the number of children in middle-class families reduced significantly, giving more educated women time to accomplish other gratifying goals. Many American women spent their time shopping and mingling with their neighbors, some would work, others would support their church, but few would advance themselves in scholarly education or embrace a political role. Even with the ability to work, many middle-class women continued living with the mentality of staying at home. With the poor wages paid to working women, it was not worth the effort for most. Many advice books, women’s magazines, novels, and religious periodicals inspired middle-class mothers and married women to focus on raising upright and moral children, and to produce a haven for their working husband, changing their role to be a more domesticated one. This kept most middle-class women constrained to their homes and away from political affairs even though they were still expected to participate in social gatherings with other wives of businessmen to reinforce their social and economic bonds (Hewitt 331). It

Family relations started to weaken during the second revolution in America and New England because with new employment opportunities for women, men and children in New England and America, families had the ability to become free or separate from each other, move away, or have an employment in which their gender or age might not have otherwise allowed today. “In short, the Industrial Revolution in early America created a standard of hard work, individuality, and in some cases, an equal amount of importance dedicated to career and family.”

The belief in the nineteenth century was that men and women existed in separate spheres and that while the male domain was the public sphere, women existed in the private domestic sphere. As industrialization paved way into America, urbanization forced men to be the primary economic factor of the family; the mother’s primary function was to be the best mother. “The development of urban industrial

The United States is currently experiencing a slow recovery from the recession of 2008-09. The current unemployment rate is 7.7%, which is the lowest level since December of 2008 (BLS, 2012). However, this rate is believed to higher than the rate that would occur if the economy was operating at peak efficiency, and it is also believed that there are structural issues still underpinning this performance. For example, the number of Americans who have exited the work force as the result of prolonged unemployment is believed to be higher than usual. In addition, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO, 2012) notes that long-term unemployment of greater than 26 weeks is at a much higher rate than normal, which will have adverse long-run effects on the economy, since workers with long-term unemployment often find their career paths derailed.

United States economy was faced with grim economic prospects that nearly plunged the economy into recession. The measures that were put in place by the Congress and the Federal Reserve Bank did make the US economy survive the recession scare that was realized in August 2011. This recession scare was occasioned by the figures generated from the July 29th GDP report (Bullard, 2011). The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has however remained on the outlook and has warned the players in the financial markets of a possible downside risk originating from Europe. The basis of FOMC assertion was premised on European sovereign debt crisis that eroded the confidence households and businesses had in certain financial institutions. However, the drops in confidence have not impacted growth because large businesses have focused their growth strategies to Asia as opposed to Europe. Besides, households are less bothered by events unfolding in Europe which they consider too distant to make them change their behavior (Bullard, 2011).

During the late eighteenth century, women experienced an unjust society which promoted ideas of inequality between men and women. Society created a legal environment, which deemed women to be inferior to men. The laws in entitled men to more rights than women. Women did not obtain a social status as high as men in society, due to gender inequality. The laws in the late eighteenth century meant that men had more power in society, as men were allowed the right to an education, which would credit them a high paying job, whereas women weren’t allowed to work. Men would go to work everyday to support his wife and family, and the women would stay home and take care of the children. This made women dependent on men for a home, money, and support. This made men feel like the were in control and owned women, especially if they were married (Todd & Butler, 1999). Being married was important in society as a means of reproduction, and women’s reputations influenced if she would find a suitable wealthy husband to take care of her. In the eighteenth century, most people didn’t marry based on generally caring and loving the other, instead people would be married based on social status and wealth, as this was important for supporting a wife and family