Gender Roles in the 1950’s
The exact definition of sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on sex - especially discrimination towards women. In modern day America, we struggle with this issue every day whether it comes to the workplace, social settings, or even family life. In the 1950’s, this issue plagued our country dramatically and left an intense aftermath. Although progress made, gender roles in post WWII has made a lasting impact on American society.
As stated, post World War II has resulted in many changes in the American society. When the war was happening, women filled roles that were mostly occupied by men. They took all the factory jobs and became the real workers in the community. Once the war ended, men came home from being deployed and drove all the women to unemployment. Even when women were successfully pursuing these careers, they were removed from work and intensely discriminated against. This act gave women the only choice of staying home and taking care of the kids and the household. This post WWII effect caused a harsh barrier between genders and what their roles in society “should” be.
Men played the more dominant roles in society. In the family aspect, they were known as the suppliers of the family, expecting to come home from work with a home
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Post World War Two America made an everlasting wound on the gender gap of our society and that we will spend years trying to bandage. This time period of women being submissive and men having all the dominance or power is in the process of being behind us, but not completely. The way we portrayed our gender roles in the workplace, social settings, or even family life has made a dramatic impact on how we portray them in the 21st century. Without the War’s change on society’s view of genders, America would not be where it is at
During WWII to most men were drafted to join the military. This some what forced many women to take on the jobs most held by men at the time. When the Baby Boom happened, many Americans viewed this as a chance to get women back as household keepers. Many magazines at the time promoted sending women back to housewives. They would post articles like “Cooking To Me Is Poetry” and “Femininity Begins At Home”.
World War II brought about a radical changes in the American society. One of the most obvious changes was how society viewed gender and the roles of men and women. World War II changed ideas about “masculinity” and “femininity” for Americans by creating more equal opportunity for men and women to participate in the war either directly or indirectly because America needed the efforts of every citizen irrespective of gender or race to win the war; by supporting men in the war to achieve victory, women proved they were complementary to men. World War II provided men and women with a variety of opportunities to defend the nation. If not directly, by supporting the soldiers on the front line with supplies and medical aid.
Socially, women were given more opportunities and roles in society as they took over jobs that were unoccupied due to men heading overseas to fight in the war. For women, there was an increased participation in the workforce, especially in industries previously dominated. This was due to the labour gap created from men leaving the workforce to fight on the front lines. People were initially hesitant to assign these jobs to women, but as the war progressed and
Looking at the short story written by Meridel Le Sueur, women were struggling trying to find work. Women constantly waited, sat there “hour after hour, day after day, waiting for a job to come in.” When World War II started, it gave women the opportunity they have been desperately waiting for and it benefited the nation greatly. Women worked in all types of jobs ranging from ammunition to being welders and shipbuilders. Even though women faced inequality and gender segregation, women continued to push and demonstrate their competence in the workforce.
During the war women had enjoyed the feeling being independent. The feeling of losing the little power they had during the war was devastating. As the United States was becoming a nation the ideology of separate spheres became more clear and women and men were treated completely differently, “American women never manage the outward concerns of the family, or conduct a business or take a part in political life; nor are they, on the other hand, ever compelled t perform the rough labor of the fields, or make any of those laborious exertions, which demand the exertion of physical strength. No families are so poor, as t form an exception to this rule.” (Dumenil 156).
Females go through their whole lives without being noticed of what they do or did for men because they were and may still be seen as just a “keeper.” Woman stopped being known as the “Keeper” because in 1960, Betty Friedan fought back and females everywhere joined in to fight the oppression and the idea roles they were suppose to portray as housewives and
The lives of women were effected in two major ways during wartime. The first and most obvious effect that war had on women, is not having a husband at home to take care of the task conceptualized as a “man’s job,” which forced women into new roles. Secondly, women gained a temporary political voice. These two major effects each had their own long term consequences that varied based on which war was being fought. During the War for Independence women filled the roles of men and ran the households, kept shops open, worked for wages to support the family, and other “manly task.”
(pbs.org) But a source of labor was high in demand since most of the men left to fight in the war. This opened up many opportunities for the minorities in America, especially women. Before the war, women didn’t have outside jobs. Their role was to tend to family affairs and stay at home while the husband worked to make a living.
Not only were women recycling and sewing to do their part in helping the USA win World War II, but large numbers of women were also helping to build aircraft and create bombs. Going from complete discrimination in the 1930s to now even having female political leaders in today's world would have driven the haters into complete disbelief. Females have undeniably struggled to earn respect in the world. Feminists celebrate the significantly increased number of women in politics, but women are still underrepresented in executive and legislative positions (“Feminism”). Society bases women on the belief that one gender is superior to the other.
Picture it: New York, 1920, automobiles filled with flappers and Jazz music flooding the streets, a new age is here. Now this setting did not always occur in the country. The women would wear modest clothing, every daily task was done by hand, social standards were set no matter your race, and drinking became a serious problem despite your age or gender. However this all came to an end during the American’s Golden Age. The 1920s was a time in the country’s history where gender was defined, industries boomed, and political problems arose.
During this time women were now working as in before they were not, “By 1944 a total of 1,360,000 women with husbands in the service had entered the workforce.” (U.S. Soldiers After World War II) Which means that a year before the final ending of the war a tremendous amount of women were working trying to support their families. Hence resulted in the traditional feminine sex roles to be altered. Programs were placed to the returning veterans such as the, “GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms.”
From what we have learned in class about the 1950’s, it is clear to say that this period stands out for being the dawning of a greater desire for masculinity for men as the war time had produced a change in gender dynamics due to the unavailability of men to do jobs that were then given to women. Hence, upon their return, men, began to produce these feelings of masculinity because of the changes that had been put in place along with the hardship of returning to regular life during the postwar time. This also made them develop a desire to define their role in the modern family, which lead them to begin marrying women. These ideas lead into the gender roles set up by society and its citizens during this time. Moreover, from these ideas we obtained
Although gender roles have changed over time, where males and females have become more equivalent , a certain level of behaviors and tasks which are acceptable for men and women still exist today. Alternatively of women and men steadily playing the gender roles they always play, they should change it around and try to do something divergent when being defined in a category of gender roles. However, women are becoming equal to men in our generation. For instance , would be men can take supervision of the children when the women go to work. Women are more maverick that they don’t need to depend on a man.
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.
Women have always played an important role in the history of the United States. Throughout different time periods, their roles in society and in government have changed in many ways. Whether women were helping the war manufacturing effort, striving for suffrage, helping soldiers during the war, or just raising their children; their roles have been influential to the social structure of the United States today. Their desire for equal rights, their willingness to help American soldiers, and the absence of men in the workplace are responsible for the changing role of women.