ipl-logo

Working By Studs Terkel Analysis

918 Words4 Pages

History shows when trying to discuss a women’s “place in society” conflict always arises. Expectations of women were always conspicuous; performing house duties. In the novel Working by Studs Terkel, Terkel describes the oral history of a woman named Theresa Carter. Mrs.Carter lives in a blue-collar neighborhood along with her loving husband and three kids. She shares her experience of being a housewife and what a typical day entails; cooking, cleaning, children, and the occasional reading. Although she loves being a housewife she struggles with societal and personal views of her job. Continuously being considered as second-class citizens, women didn’t have many of the rights males in the US are granted and some cases still do. Women accept …show more content…

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 …show more content…

Nowadays, anyone can be a stay parent, completing gender-neutral tasks. The role of housewives are no longer perceived to be “low on the totem pole” but a well respected, being the primary caregiver of the household. In addition, with the increased employment of both spouses, more people find themselves turning to housekeepers and nannies to perform all the same tasks as a housewife. Life is simply not a path we are forced to follow, every person has their own destiny in life. When asked what comes to mind when hearing the word “women” responses of a mother, wife, and caregiver come to mind. Although this is true, women are also emotional and caring beings, nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that’s the only thing they know how to do. Furthermore, women can take on any role they would like, and doesn’t translate to them being any less of a person. Through time we are able to see the transformation of “Just a

Show More
Related

Analysis Of The Painted Door By Sinclair Ross

569 Words | 3 Pages

The time era in which this text is written in the 1930’s to 1940’s. In this time frame, women were supposed to stay home and do the chores such as cooking and cleaning, while

Read More

Summary Of So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs From Americans

1552 Words | 7 Pages

In Julia Alvarez’s “Woman’s Work”, she discusses women’s work being considered lower than others work. Julia Alvarez then proves this wrong as she describes the amount of discipline that goes into a woman’s work such as cleaning a house. The author then describes the long hours she was forced to spend cleaning the house. Often, the author’s mother would make her work until the sun went down, not allowing her to go outside and play with her friends. The woman then ends up becoming just like her mother as much as she hates it.

Read More

Summary Of The 50's And The American Woman

816 Words | 4 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

Read More

A Date With Your Family In The 1950's

1097 Words | 5 Pages

Traditionally, the man of the house will go to work, the woman will stay home and take care of the house and children, but times have changed. A family can not live off of only a man's income comfortably, so women often have to go to work; leaving little to no time maintaining the home and taking care of the

Read More

What Is A Housewife's Role In Colonial America

465 Words | 2 Pages

This reflects a unique aspect of American Life where women were treated as lesser than their male counterparts even though they were very important to society. They played a large part in keeping their society going, but did not get any recognition in the form of power or respect. Women served as housewives, cooking, cleaning, and doing anything else necessary to take care of their husbands, children, and houses. Ulrich discusses how housewives “demonstrated the old proverb, ‘A man works from sun to sun, but a woman’s work is never done’ “ (Ulrich 67). Housewives play an essential role in the functioning of their family, but the sons of the family inherit the land instead of the

Read More

Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience: The Role Of Women

454 Words | 2 Pages

Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” speaks to many political issues and how to handle them. He felt the government was corrupt for their continual use of slavery and that one “cannot without disgrace be associated with it” (150). On the point of the government enforcing laws, Thoreau calls for men to do nothing. By nothing, he means to not give the government power over them which would effectively be “peaceable revolution” (154). Americans complain about the way the government is run, yet they do nothing while allowing the government to do as they please.

Read More

Women's Rights Dbq Essay

1605 Words | 7 Pages

The purpose of this document is to show that women are helping in duties outside the household. This is important because this was unconventional at the time. Additonally, there is a chart that shows that there was a significant increase in jobs held by women in professional fields such as clerical, professional, service, and sales workers which shows that women were climbing up the ladder in terms of jobs. This increase in women in the workforce is further confirmed with the drop in jobs such as household, factory, and farm workers (Doc 3B). Women are now taking on more professional jobs that were typically for men and that alone is a significant change.

Read More

Diane Ackerman's 'Why I Want A Wife'

838 Words | 4 Pages

Brady uses words and various rhetorical elements to bring more awareness towards the feminist movement towards readers. In the essay, Brady establishes ethos by allowing the readers to know that she is a housewife with the first line, “I belong to that classification of people known as wives.” Throughout the essay, Brady uses irony and sarcasm to show the absurd standards that women have to meet in the household, “I want a wife to go along when our family takes a vacation so that someone can continue to care for me and my children when I need a rest and change of scene.” Brady successfully delineates her criticism of societal expectations of housewives by their husbands through her use of words. She effectively crafts her thoughts into words that make the goal of creating equality between females and males more

Read More

The Pastoralization Of Housework Analysis

1500 Words | 6 Pages

In the pastoralization of housework, woman found a new dynamic in the family system by becoming influencers. Boydston writes, “‘...in which wives were described as deities “who presides over the sanctities of domestic life, and administer its sacred rights….”” With the romanization of housework woman found themselves placed on a higher pedestal, and with this newly found power, women were able to influence their husband’s decisions. Women during the Antebellum period were described as “holy and pious” and they were seen as the more religious being out of the two sexes, so it was customary for women to use their power to help the family stay on the right path. Mrs. A. J. Graves supported this idea and directly connects women’s role of taking care of the home to a station which God and nature assigned her.

Read More

El Salvador: A Beautiful Country In Central America

1420 Words | 6 Pages

So you see a lot of single women trying to provide the best that they can for their little ones and it’s a sad thing to see. But, if you are married, you as a woman must stay at home and be that “housewife” type of woman. For me, that doesn’t shock me, but because I was born and raised in the United States, I can’t just simply cook and clean because I want a future that involves a career.

Read More

Uncle Tom's Cabin, By Harriet Beecher Stowe

654 Words | 3 Pages

A woman, by definition, is an adult human female but is classified as a wife, girlfriend and even a female paid to clean someone’s house and carry out general domestic duties. For a long time, women have been trapped by gender ideology and have not been seen as a man’s equal. Men were being praised for simple acts, while women had gotten no recognition for doing something greater. The female population has achieved so much more than basic talents and acts and a lot more than what they have been given credit for. For example, three women by the names of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Ann Jacobs, and Gloria Steinem, have played their part in preserving the nation.

Read More

Women's Equality In The 1920s

1468 Words | 6 Pages

America gained its independence in 1776 with the expectation that every American should have liberty and equality. However, American women did not have the right to vote until 1920, which was almost more than 140 years after the United States was established. Women could do little to protect themselves and promote their careers due to being treated unequally and inferior to men. During the 19th and the early 20th century, women were working hard and fighting for gender equality, so that more and more women could live a better life with basic civil rights in their hometowns. In reality, women’s equality was challenged by traditional conventions in the fields of biological difference in sexes, religion and gender roles, and different perspectives towards these conventions of different people made women’s civil rights controversial.

Read More

Arlie Hochschild The Second Shift Analysis

529 Words | 3 Pages

Women are expected to be the caretakers and the maids for the home. Any deviation from these roles are seen as unusual and are treated differently because of it. Even if the women do have careers that are as hard and tedious as their male counterparts they are expected. If we the second shift is to be less burdensome for women, first we must rid ourselves of the ridiculous expectations placed on

Read More

Essay On Patriarchy And Fatherhood

725 Words | 3 Pages

Because of increasing number of women in working places, modernity, there is an egalitarian task in the house between mothers and fathers (David W. Scwalb, Barbara J. Shwalb, Michael Lamb,

Read More

Essay On Gender Equality

1505 Words | 7 Pages

What can be done to overcome prejudice towards Gender Equality? Gender equality entails protecting human rights, an economic necessity that allows women’s financial autonomy and national progress, and a country’s outlook on international relations. It affects childbirth rates, the quality of life and longevity of those children, and the type of life of the mother. The struggle is so vital to global stability and success that the United Nations (UN) addresses it in their sustainable development goals.

Read More

More about Working By Studs Terkel Analysis

Open Document