What It Means To Be A Woman In The 50'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.

The 1920’s which was also called the Roaring Twenties was a era of economic prosperity and dramatic social change. The 19 amendment that was ratified on August 1920 gave the right of women to vote and the impact of World War I resulted in women questioning traditional morals and values, becoming rebellious. When men left for the war it caused women to have new jobs such as working in factories. Also, “the number of women attending college rose to 10% of the population by the end of the 1920's." Due to women having the opportunity to have jobs and go to college women became more mobile. The corset limited women to be mobile in this era which caused the production of coresets to quickly decline. Less women wearing corset made their figure to be more boyish and straight. The women of this era was called the Flappers, free spirited women, representing the new change of how women looked. The Flappers “lacked hips, breasts, and a defined waist”. They would dress in dresses above their knee and ankle showing more legs and having bare arms. They would also stray away from having long hair and cut their hair into a bob to symbolize freedom and independency. As a reason of women questioning traditional values they began to drink, smoke and be more sexual in this era. The 1920’s was also the age of Jazz which influenced women to go out and dance and women having more flamboyant and exuberant moves. In the 1920’s to be equal among men they had to have a figure of men,

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

The idea of television began since the 1820s but it was until 1927 when the 21- year old Philo T. Farnsworth produce the first electronic television picture. Experimental broadcast began, featuring music, wrestling, and dance; however, it was until the 1950s that TV really became the new form of mass entertainment. Nevertheless, in all the shows that were produced women was denigrated and producers focused mainly on their physical appearance and not their intellect capacity. Ward and Harrison stated, “TV has depicted females by focusing on their physical characteristics, sexual appeal, and romantic success, whether they are housewives, mothers, or objects of desire.” Women did not have a choice, they were placed on TV shows with a certain stereotype needed to be fulfilled by them, and because they wanted to work they did not deny the job, therefore, they encouraged the stereotype.

The 1950s is considered to be the model decade of America. Families were close, children respected their elders, workers worked hard to provide for their families who grew up in nice neighborhoods, and the economy was booming. The forced conformity, neglect of the poor, and segregation are often overlooked when talking about the decade as they were during the time period. The 1950s were a prodigious time period for family life but not for the individual or societal ethics.

Men are treated vastly differently than women. For example, men are expected to not show their emotions. In “why men don’t last” by Natalie Angier, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, she described how even when men are young boys they have their emotions shamed out of them by their parents and their peers (Angier 1011). In “The War Against Boys” Christina Hoff Sommers, a writer of several books, wrote how men have it imprinted on them at a young age that showing your emotions is a sign of weakness. Men are also taught to be self-sufficient and not ask for help (Sommers 1061). For example, there were many times when I was in school but needed help. I never asked because I always wanted to think of myself as self-sufficient, that I did not need the help from my teacher and I could figure it out myself. Now, of course, I realize how dumb that was that there is no shame in asking for help,

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

It was not that long ago where women in the 1950s were held by certain standards. The sad part is that much hasn’t changed today. Many women today work outside the home (a single household income is not enough support) and are still expected to maintain the “housewife” image. Child bearing, cleaning, and cooking are still considered a woman’s job.

During the period after World War II, there was a shift in the role of women from the private sphere to the public sphere. Namely, at the turn of the 1960s, the concept of the nuclear family was becoming less of the norm as many women began to fight more and more for their rights and the way in which they were to be portrayed. For many years, women have been made to believe that they must follow certain expectations such to fit into the “American ideal” of what the role of a woman should be. For example, according to the Redstockings, contests like Miss America perpetuate the idea that women must be “inoffensive, bland, [and] apolitical” and that “conformity is the key…to success in our society.” The sentiment expressed in the quotation,

What they failed to realize was that also during this time, there was segregation in schools, restaurants, bathrooms, courthouses, community, even water fountains. This was a major key to the 1950s lifestyle. It kept people of color away from Caucasians, making sure there was no interaction. There was a great ethnicity barrier, and it was apparent to see.

Throughout life every man and woman fits into a specific gender role. We are told what is expected of men and women from birth until death. Many people influence our view of how we should act and what we should say such as our parents, friends, and even the media. Males and females play very different roles and these differences are apparent in our every day lives. These differences are not the same as they used to be. Society has changed the way it treats men and women over time.

Television, since its inception, has had a knack at being a mirror for the current state of society. Through this medium, one is easily able to spot the changes our culture has gone through since TV was first created. One example of this social shift, is that of the woman's role in television starting from the 50’s to the present. In 1950’s

Paid work for women moved from principally customary female-situated employments to all the more non-conventional and already male-arranged vocations. Ladies ' support in the workforce prompted them to start careers in the field dominated by male in the 20th century. Career yearnings were affected by elements, such as sexual orientation, financial status, race, occupation and instruction level, and parental desires. This paper exhibits how women developed, changed and the challenges they faced in the 20th century in America in the workforce and the advancement of ladies ' careers, improvement and profession goals during the 20th century in United States. Also, gender issues affecting women will be discussed in details during this period and how women played their role in fighting for their rights.

This may be because of the socialisation men receive when growing up. It is argued that men and women are socialised differently as children. Women are essentially expected to conform to norms and values that society impose on them: they are generally considered by society as the weaker and passive sex, labelled as a mother, a carer and are expected to be a conformist, deferential and diligent. Girls may be brought up to fear violence inflicted upon them whereas men are often socialised differently in that they are brought up to oppose it if threatened. Men are encouraged at a young age to be competitive, aggressive and sexually

Women are portrayed as needy, whiny, and downright annoying, a burdensome background noise that distracts one's attention from more important matters -like football games, for example. This particular trope is also harmful to men painting them as lazy, uncaring, and somewhat football obsessed slobs that would rather sleep in a garage for a week than help their wives do the laundry. While this trope is degrading to both genders in two opposite ways, it comes together to normalize unhealthy relationships, one where responsibilities are not shared, feelings are not validated nor heard out, and ignoring the needs of one's partner is commonplace. This goes hand in hand with the "marriage is the end of a man's freedom" trope. Which again, harms genders in two separate ways teaching girls to believe that they are nothing more than a heavy deadlock around the necks of the men they love, and teaching boys that cherishing the relationship they are in is not manly. People organize their knowledge about the world around them by sorting and simplifying information then creating representations of the reality displaying its most typical elements and properties. This is responsible for defining the essence of our worldview and has a significant influence on social