Roles Of Women In The 1970's

As I mentioned previously, the sixties were a time of change. For instance, young people, watching their friends and family drafted into the Vietnam War, began to question traditional society and the government. Additionally, women changed their views on their place and role in the family. Also, new ideas emerged, changing the look of families both then and now. In 1960, more than 70 percent of families still looked much like the family of the 1950s, with a man who brought in the family 's sole income, children and a stay-at-home wife and mother.

1.0 Introduction 1.1 Background of the Study Culture consists of the overarching values, motives and moral ethical rules and meanings that are part of the system (Harris, 1999). Culture is the whole way of life, material and non-material of human society (Shorter, 1998). People think that culture as fine and performing arts, to dance, music, theatre and the means of disseminating arts and communication industry (Souza, 1993). One should imagine culture as being self contained, super organic reality with forces and purposes of its own (Geertz, 1973). Westerners used to think that their culture was a unitary phenomenon and that their western culture was perfect and most developed but 20th century proved them wrong (Shorter, 1998).

Differences between gender behavior and roles have existed for centuries. Women in the United States during the 1800s to early 1900s were looked upon as housewives and caretakers, and usually stayed at home while men worked and made money. However, as time has progressed, the fight for women’s equality has constantly been changing our society’s gender roles. The path to social reconstruction and the struggle to achieve it has shown a positive result of activists’ attempts to mend the social gap. By looking at past events, both successes and failures, understanding and recognizing the path to equality will bring light upon the issues that have taken place in the United States.

The Progressive Era was a period of time, from 1890 to 1920, that people start believing that the society problem could be faded by providing a safe environment, good education and an efficient workplace. The people who wanted changes in the society were called Progressives. Most of them were well educated, journalist, they went to college. There were a lot of problems that people tried to fix them or improve them, most of them were fixed but other we are still trying to fix them. During this period there were a lot of issues and problems but there were some prominent ones, like: Women Suffrage, Temperance or Food and Health.

Nowadays, women stand in a good position in personal and business life. They have an equal rights with men to vote, choose a desired study direction, occupation, and others. However, the situation of women’s position has not been always like that. In the 1950s, the economy was booming which created a hierarchy in family. According to Stephanie Coontz, a man was a breadwinner, and he had a full power and leadership in his family (Coontz, 27-43).

In the 1960’s, the women's population of how many worked outside of their house had been 35%. Also in the 1960’s, the work force women had increased by 6 percent since 1950 and had become 35%. Women’s employment with children who had gone to school had also increased. Women who had children who were preschoolers had been a major influence in work because ⅓ of them were working outside their house. Also, 40% of women with children ages six to seventeen years old had been working outside of their house.

A historian by the name of Ed Ayers once said “The exploitative natures of women’s work throughout history has been enormous.” I believe that this statement is true because after looking at history it shows that there were so many things that they had to overcome to get to the rights that they have today. Women during the 1700’s and 1800’s were challenged with expressing themselves in a social system that refused to grant women the right to express their views. Many events during these centuries which included things such as social and political movements that increased attention to women's issues like education reform. By the end of the 1800’s women were finally able to speak out against the injustices aimed at them.

New media such as the film industry also gave men a “new definition” into the “male appearance” and its importance and variations in the public eye. Masculine appearance now rejected the clothed modesty of the Victorian Age, to the point that by 1930, men no longer wore swimming clothes that “covered the upper part of the body,” a celebration of the male physique and in many cases their sexuality that evolved through the 1920s. Instead of written rules and dictations of courtship, new social mores now declared that “the peer group” would now define “appropriate sexual behavior,” that courtship as a manner of relationships between men and women would now fade as the concept of dating would take its place. This “driving [of] courtship” into

During the 1930’s there was an overwhelming sense of preconceived ideas of gender roles and what place they maintained in society, men were expected to work in order to earn a living and provide for their families, while women were more likely to stay at home to look after the children and cook and clean until the man returns from work. For working class Americans and the poor, the situation was during the Great Depression and many people were out of work and had to resort to desperate measures in order to provide for their families. Contrast to the upper class of the time who went by greatly untouched by economic downfall and thus become increasingly more obliged to seek a wife in order to have a family and live what seemed to be the idea of a middle-class woman’s American dream to marry a wealthy man.

An ambulance arrived at the entrance of Bellevue Hospital, and an emergency bed sprinted across the polished, hospital floor. The wheels screeched, but they rolled with no hesitation. A crowd of four assisted around the bed: a father, a mother who tightly gripped their son’s hand, and two nurses who assured the injured that everything will be fine. The atmosphere tensed as the parents waited outside of the emergency room, praying for the procedure to end successfully. Buzzzz!