American Women In The 1950's

Women have been pushed back into the gender role for many centuries, being ruled and forced to think through the lens of a patriarchal society. Forced to be the typical woman of the time, and seen as nothing more than a daughter, a sister, a mom, a grandma, or simply a woman. In many countries, culture plays a role in how strong the influence of a patriarchal society grips women’s rights, sometimes allowing a significant amount of flexibility and sometimes allowing none, completely dominated by men and social expectations.
Early Ages, Middle East: Socially, women are not seen as equals to men, but instead are expected to follow the stigma in many cultures, for example, in Saudi Arabia, women are forced to wear a hijab, because it is culturally

It emphasized how women were unhappy, despite living comfortable lives with a family, suggesting that women want more of a place and voice in society during the 1950’s and 1960’s. She criticized how men portrayed women on advertisements as happy housewives and thus creating this idea that women were naturally fulfilled by being housewives and caretakers and how women gave into social ideals to become a wife and mother, because they believed in the philosophy that feminine fulfillment would be achieved through “sexual passivity, male domination, and maternal love.” Friedan criticizes women for not knowing their identity in society, but rather allowing society to decide for them. She criticizes how culture conforms women to it’s social norms. The conformity to social expectations due to the American culture is evident throughout history, for example, during the Vietnam War, men went to war instead of deserting due to the idea between honor and dishonor, this could be a factor as to why women conformed to social ideals, as social pressure for the public around them expected her to follow in other women’s footsteps and become a housewife and they didn’t want others around them to look down upon them and bring shame to their families, so she did as others and copied women of previous

Although, there’s a great separation from the 1950’s to now in feminism, discrimination still exists. There appears to be a “glass ceiling,” a point where women can’t rise above. In media today, there is still a stigma that women can’t take care of themselves and instead need others to depend on. It would seem that although feminist pressure and achievements have paved the way for the American opinion and stereotype on women to change, that the public has an imprint in their minds of a general characteristic for all women in American society. In many cases, the mindset of women changed and instead of marrying lawyers or doctors, they became lawyers or doctors and as a result, changed the social stigma behind their proper place in society. Despite gaining personal independence in society, women are not equal in economic status as men. A Congressional survey in 1987, proved that American women take home 68% of what a man takes and this explains why more women are in poverty than that of men. This shows that in employment, discrimination plays a role in society and helps male superiority thrive and repress women to continue as second class citizens, despite having the vote and more opportunities in America. Discrimination causes feminist achievements to spin