Essay On 1950s Women

From the beginning of time all the way to the twenty first century, women have and continue to play an imperative role in maintaining our society’s stability. During the Second World War, women took on the responsibility of filling men’s shoes in industry and manufacturing. Not only did they give their sons, husbands, fathers, and brothers to the war effort, they gave their time, energy, and some even gave their lives. However, women were often unrecognized and deprived of many opportunities that were only available to men. Specifically in the 1950s, they were not treated nor seen as equals. This is why in post war Canadian society, women experienced challenges in the workplace with unequal wages, inferior status to men and were expected to

The 1950s are frequently recognized as the pinnacle of gender inequality as women were denigrated and portrayed as “stupid, submissive, purely domestic creatures”. As appose to receiving a higher-level education, many of girls stayed home after high school while their husbands worked to support the family. The fact that a woman would be attending college was bizarre and abnormal. It was presumed that women would get married after high school and fall into their traditional roles as soon as possible. The courageous women that chose to learn further were not taught mathematics and science rather home economics and cooking. The image of a typical 50s woman was a happy housewife who cooked the food, cleaned the house, and watched the children. This idea of gender roles was certainly reflected through magazines, television shows and even toys. Often times, many advertisements showed smiling women with loaded arms of cooked food and cleaning supplies, looking happy content to be doing that and nothing else. Through Barbies, these figurines were used to construct young girls on how to become a " good mommy” and would supposedly help them imagine their future. They were portrayed as dedicated housewives whose only goal in life was to meet the pleasures of their husband and children. Society believed women fit this role and it was an ideal aspiration for