ipl-logo

Summary Of The 50's And The American Woman

816 Words4 Pages

Since the beginning of time, women have been represented as a sexualised identity. All women were expected to cook, clean and care for their husbands while still having to look pretty. The article written by Vanessa Martins Lamb, “The 1950’s and the 1960’s and the American Woman”, uses language devices to convey the message that women in the 50’s were indeed represented as a sexualised identity and stereotypical gender roles were significant in society.

The author described the jobs a married woman had to do in order to be the perfect housewife, “have dinner ready, prepare yourself, prepare the children, minimize all noise, be happy to see him, listen to him, make the evening his”, puts emphasis on the fact that all of the woman’s duties …show more content…

The greater and grander the appliances the family owned, the happier they would be as it meant that the wife would cook and clean better for them. This quote also conveys how women were even expected to wear uncomfortable and impractical high heels while doing laborious housework. Not only that, but she also had to wear jewelry and do her hair nicely, making sure it’s neat all day long in order to look pretty for her husband and be the perfect woman. The reader is positioned to feel sympathy towards the women back in the day as they were not given any freedom or choice, unable to live the life they wanted and follow their dreams as it was condemned by society. The idea of an independent, smart and powerful woman was marginalized and instead the dominant idea was that of a submissive, dumb woman who was reliant on their husband, only knowing how to do housework and taking care of her …show more content…

There is also a wedding ring on her perfectly manicured hand. These are all attributes of a 1950’s housewife as they had a sexualised identity. She does not have her gaze diverted to the camera, but instead, her eyes are unable to be seen. In addition to that, she is laying down in a passive pose to suggest her lack of power and dominance. It is shot from a high angle so the camera looks down on the subject, making the subject, which in this case is the woman, seem insignificant and

Show More
Related
1621 Words | 7 Pages

Have you ever wondered how women were treated by society within the 1920s? Even within the workforce? Well, in these two documents, “The New Woman of the 1920s'', and “In the Home of an Italian Rag Picker VS. The Portrait of Virginia Michael Stern '', both demonstrate the differences, and contrast between two women living in completely opposite lifestyles because of society’s treatment towards them individually, as well as society’s traditional views among women and how they presented themselves. In the document, “The New Woman of the 1920s' ', a traditional woman would have had her hair down, and longer, as well as wearing a dress that would reflect both her elegance, and pureness.

Read More
880 Words | 4 Pages

In Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s short story “The New England Nun” The protagonist Louisa is faced with being pressured by society to play the role of a women. Women in this particular century had a certain role in life . They were either wives or mothers who cooked and cleaned. Louisa conformed to this role even without the pressures of a family. Although many women at the time we're starting to reject house work as a way to free themselves .

Read More
956 Words | 4 Pages

“Like all other women I thought that there couldn’t be much improvement in the same old task of washing dishes.” This quote by Christine Frederick in 1912 speaks so much truth about the way women lived before the 1920s. Many women had believed that they were sought out to stay at home and be the regular housewife that the American people portrayed them to be. None of them probably believed that they would soon get the privilege to vote, have a job, or to even dress a little less modestly. They would soon come to the realization that their way of life would be changed when the 1920s came rushing in.

Read More
600 Words | 3 Pages

In the 1900’s average women played the role of the housewife. Her role was to obey, help and make her husband’s life easier, they were to stay home and watch over the house. Growing up in

Read More
918 Words | 4 Pages

Women have particular roles in which society expects them to carry-out without failing; she is expected to be an obedient wife, a caring mother and conscientious homemaker. Society has painted an image of the “ideal wife” through media, marketing, and norms in which she is restricted to her home and nurturing her family, and gaining the respect of the community. A hard-working housewife was supposed to have dinner ready by the time her husband returned from work, perform and agreed without question. Women were not allowed to go to school, or work, and most times were forced to stay at home causing the housewife role to be the only job

Read More
1294 Words | 6 Pages

During the 1940’s to 60’s, the media portrayed women as housewives. Popular TV programmes of the day such as “Leave it to Beaver” and “The Honeymooners” depicts women as the ideal housewife who cooks, cleans, raises well-mannered children and pleases her husband at any cost. Women in the workplace mainly became acceptable due to the men being deployed during times of conflict. They would be out doing the jobs that the men had vacated such as Bank tellers, Shoe salespersons or Aircraft Mechanics. Outside of conflict there were still many that chose to work, but not just in the traditional stereotypical “Woman’s” jobs such as Nursing, Secretarial or Caring jobs, but also in Fashion, Architecture and other areas of male dominated industry.

Read More
726 Words | 3 Pages

Now in the 1950’s gender constructs were heavy and demanding. For example, an article titled, “Postwar Gender Roles and Women in American Politics.” Says, “…often came at a cost to women who gave up careers to maintain the domestic sphere. This lifestyle stressed the importance of a one-income household,

Read More
341 Words | 2 Pages

The early part of the 19th century was a time of change for the United States. Up until this time, American’s generally lived in small, rural towns where work was tied to the home. With the onset of industrialization and more advanced forms of transportation and communication the north was becoming more modernized and society began shifting from agrarian to urban. Both men and young unmarried men and women began leaving their rural homes to look for jobs and a better way of life in the city. Because of this change, new gender ideologies began to change the way American’s thought about the roles men and women played in the home and in society.

Read More
1207 Words | 5 Pages

The century between the 1920s and 2010s marked a significant period of change for the United States, as the country was involved in countless conflicts all around the globe. The impact of these events on the nation was profound and far-reaching, affecting everything from economic policies, social norms and politics. The 1940s specifically was a decade where the United States went through huge amounts of change. More specifically in the economy, as the government mobilized resources to support the war effort on the Allies side.

Read More
2819 Words | 12 Pages

In the 1950’s, church attendance was at its peak, everyone was rushing to get back to their homes, marry their high school sweethearts, move out to the suburbs, and have children. Somewhere in this mix women as individuals were forgotten again. During the war they were given freedoms and luxuries that today people may scoff at but at the time seemed important. The church played an important role in insuring that women went back to their lives and worked to idealize women into believing that their former roles is all they could play nay all they ever wanted in life. The Jewish people have a prayer that is a clear symbol of the historical treatment of women it thanks God for not making them a women.

Read More
1017 Words | 5 Pages

In the 1940s men were the ones that held the power in society as they are seen as superior to women since they are physically stronger. This then allowed them to have more opportunity and left the women to be more vulnerable. It implemented this mindset of society looking down upon women, and treating women as if they are less than and not equal to men. Tennessee Williams portrays men as more dominant and aggressive than women through the interactions Stanley has with the women in his life. Staneley uses his aggressiveness to show that since he is a man he is able to do whatever he wants, whenever he pleases.

Read More
1542 Words | 7 Pages

Having been around for centuries, the American family is the oldest cultural institution. It would seem that by now, our notions and ideas about what constitutes a family should have been solidified. However, this is not the case as family life continues to evolve. The myth of the traditional, nuclear family, with a breadwinner father, stay-at-home mother, and two kids who live a generous middle-class lifestyle, has not always been the cornerstone of American society. In fact, it only emerged in the 1950s and since then has been the source of nostalgia for Americans and the ideal model of what a typical family should look like.

Read More
455 Words | 2 Pages

The 1950s was a time of relief and calm for the Americans. After a great depression and a war, many people wanted to live a smooth, easy life. There are many negatives and positives of this “American Dream” life. Gender roles and a growing middle class have some of the most clear roles in this ideal. Both had some negative and some positive effects on the “American Dream”.

Read More
161 Words | 1 Pages

In the 1960’s, women lived very different lives than they do today. Women’s lives were very restricted in their opportunities and they did not have equal rights as men. The typical woman during that time period was expected to marry at a young age, usually in her early twenties, and then take care of the household for the rest of her days. A woman of that time period once said, “The female doesn’t really expect much out of life.

Read More
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.

Read More

More about Summary Of The 50's And The American Woman

Related Topics

Open Document