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1950s Women's Roles

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In the last seventy years, women in America have made great strides toward equality, which has dramatically changed their role in society. In days that seem long past, women were expected to be doting mothers, immaculate housekeepers, and submissive wives. These roles were the primary, if not only, responsibilities of any woman prior to the 1940s. However, since the post-war era, the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of women have evolved in leaps and bounds.

In the first half of the twentieth century, women were not wanted, or needed, to be a part of the workforce. In fact, it was thought to be odd and unsettling for women to work or attend college.” The role of women in the 1950s was a society-endorsing template that all …show more content…

Progress begets more progress and the sixties set the tone for the seventies. In the seventies, discrimination against women in education, discrimination against pregnant women by employers, and discrimination against women in housing was made illegal. Contraceptives for unmarried people became legal and in 1973, abortion became legal through the ruling in Roe vs. Wade. Women were becoming more independent, more opinionated and being given more options. Options gave them some power and influence, as an emerging voting class with a particular set of priorities. Women still faced inequality and discrimination, but in the words of the Virginia Slim’s slogan, which was marketed toward women in the sixties and seventies, “You’ve come a long way, baby!” (Catalano, pg. 76). The simple fact that product marketing, which was not for household products, food, or clothing, was being directed toward women was evidence of a new group of people with purchasing power. Women were no longer sitting idly by as decisions were being made for them. They were out in the working world, the political world, and the commerce world, making things happen and being counted …show more content…

In 2005, Hillary Clinton became the first First Lady to be elected to public office as a U.S. Senator from New York and Condoleezza Rice became the first black female Secretary of State. By 2007, Nancy Pelosi had become the first female speaker of the house and the following year, Hillary Clinton became the first First Lady to run for President. She became the third female Secretary of State in 2009. Two more women joined the Supreme Court in the 2000s (www.nwhp.org) and Hillary Clinton ran for a second time for the presidency in

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Alina Serbina Pd 3 Essay #1 Compare and contrast United States society in the 1920s and the 1950s with respect to TWO of the following: role of women and consumerism The 1920’s and 1950’s played a big role in women’s roles and consumerism. The 1920’s was a time of an economic boom , due to the end of World War I. Once the soldiers came home , the life of women drastically changed. Many women were no longer satisfied with staying home and wanted to continue to work and perceive careers. The 1950’s were also a post-war decade , marking the end of World War II. This decade sparked an intellectual and economic boom because of the struggle to become a world power.

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In the middle of the 20th century, women were at a cultural crossroads in American society. Work or not to work? Ration or consumption - a ration? These very concerns were a hot debate across the nation at the time, as women of this period were expected of nothing more than keeping the house and raising children, but the goliath that was World War II opened up opportunities in manufacturing and other non-traditional jobs for women because of the fact that there was no men to fill these vacancies. Many women upon hearing Congresswoman’s Clare Boothe Luce’s speech in September of 1942 directed to the women’s banking committee were motivated to fill these spots that men normally would’ve worked at.

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Several social changes in the post-war years opened women to feminism's message. P. 2, The demand for a larger and more skilled labor pool generated by the Cold War, and postwar consumer economy were the driving force cause American society to become more open to feminism’s message. No doubt WW II created the demand for expanded women’s roles in the workplace, Document 1. Having proved their equal abilities during the war, they stood ready willing and able to contribute moving forward. Nevertheless attitudes toward women staying in the workforce after World War II were not favorable.

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In doing so, these working women began to have the ability to support themselves, and, therefore, tended to rely less on men. However, these women not only defied the workplace’s principles, but also condemned society’s gender

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1141 Words | 5 Pages

Women had bigger success in state-level politics, like the positions such as secretary of state and secretary of education. Women 's success in state-level politics was because of women exercising voting rights by voting other women into the political office. Even though most women held positions that were very limited to state administration or to what was thought to be considered "women 's issues," women were unfortunately unable to make an respectful impact through political office. Politically, the Women 's Suffrage Movement achieved the Nineteenth Amendment which gave women the right to vote. At this time, women also had the Women 's Rights Movement also pushing for equality.

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Women’s ongoing fight for equality from the 1920s to the 1970s was reflected through their attire. The 1920s were marked by the shockingly short hemlines and their right to vote. While women struggled to get fair pay in the 1930s, they got hired more often than men, which gave them greater independence. However, due to the gloom of the Great Depression, women lost their confidence and their clothing became more conservative. By contrast, the 1940s provided greater opportunities as the United States went to war.

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736 Words | 3 Pages

Women faced discrimination based on the fact that many people still held their traditional values and were even more outraged at the thought of women taking their jobs. The purpose of this piece was to reflect on the absence of women society and to ask what could have been happening to them during the time. Men believed that it was wrong to hire women when their were mass numbers of unemployed men. Although women were suffering in the same fashion, people believed that they were taking away jobs and should return to their role in the home. Women like Frances Perkins were advancing during they were not always accepted in the positions they were taking.

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It was these types of jobs that women specialized in that further promoted this idea of a working woman. Ninety percent or more of the nurses, midwives, telephone operators, secretaries, domestic service workers, and boarding housekeepers in 1940’s were women. These new professions and ideas about how women should be viewed helped to advance women’s rights movements, leading to significant gains in the decades following the passing amendment’s This reflects how the Nineteenth Amendment empowered women to challenge gender-based discrimination in all aspects of their

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The women were expected to create a happy home, guard the religion, and the morality of her family. The unmarried and married women who tried to seek work outside the home faced limited employment opportunities because of their gender. Women were expected to only focus on domestic duties and her role were limited to continue living in the man’s world. Women roles were expected to be in line with the culture and norms set by the society. The American culture perceived that women were not intellectually and emotionally stable to be involved in the complex world of work and, therefore, women did not take up leadership and political roles.

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The Fifteenth amendment was ratified in March 1870 (encouraged women, particularly Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott/ Women’s Rights Movement/ The Declaration of Sentiments – campaigning for equal rights – not only are women allowed to vote today, some are being elected to public office at all levels of government (example: Hilary Clinton, running as Democratic candidate for nomination in the U.S. presidential election of

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Before the 1920’s, during World War 1, women were pushing social boundaries by creating large emphases on education, wage gaps, work conditions, and breaking the traditional gender roles that society puts in place . These women were encouraged to leave their housework behind and join the war efforts by taking over their husband’s jobs. During this time, many women's organizations, clubs, and unions were forming all trying to create spaces where women felt safe enough to address their experiences and issues publicly. Although these were very progressive advancements, there was a latent understanding that once the war was over women were expected to go back to their housework, and give the men their jobs

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500 Words | 2 Pages

Women in the Progressive Era began with little to no rights at all. They didn't have any other role in society especially for poor white women except to stay at home and do what their husbands tell them to do. Over time women began to give themselves an identity, and rights through feminism, icons, and taking action. They began to make a change and make a bang culturally. Jane Adams on of the first most prominent female activists created this idea of "the new woman," during the Progressive Era.

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878 Words | 4 Pages

Those that befitted from the social prosperity were white men. Groups that were excluded from the positive changes of the 1950s were people of color, the poor, the LGBT community, and those affected by the “Red Scare”. They didn’t get to enjoy the same opportunities for home subsidies or support for higher education, as people of color were forced to congregate in shabby neighborhoods, and those who were targeted by the Red Scare saw their career and reputation destroyed. White women didn’t completely experience positive changes of this period either, as they had to give up their jobs and the freedom that they fought hard to gain in the previous decades, and they were told to send their parents to nursing homes to fully devoted themselves to families, and at the same time they had to be willing to send their male children out to the world earlier, which led to alcohol and substance abuse in women in this time period, according to the

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950 Words | 4 Pages

Raisin in the Sun: Gender Roles Defied Following the event of World War Two, America during the 1950s was an era of economic prosperity. Male soldiers had just returned home from war to see America “at the summit of the world”(Churchill). Many Americans were confident that the future held nothing other than peace and prosperity, so they decided to start families. However, the 1950s was also a time of radical changes. Because most of the men in the family had departed to fight in the war, women were left at home to do the housework.

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During the 1890’s until today, the roles of women and their rights have severely changed. They have been inferior, submissive, and trapped by their marriage. Women have slowly evolved into individuals that have rights and can represent “feminine individuality”. The fact that they be intended to be house-caring women has changed.

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