The 1960s: Gender Roles And Race Relations

In her essay, “What We Really Miss About the 1950s”, Stephany Coontz talks about the myth of the 1950s. She begins her argument by stating some reasons why the nostalgia for the 1950s exists. The main thing Americans miss about the those days is the stability. She acknowledges that this fallacy is not insane. She bases her information on facts and historical evidence. Coontz discusses that jobs, marriage, birthrate and education were at very high points in the 1950s. Jobs were secure and came with great benefits. Coontz describes that when one takes a closer look at the 1950s they will realize that comparing it to the 1990s or the 21st century is absurd. Coontz also explains that the social society during the 1950s was different than the social society we have today. Racism was also a huge factor that seems to be hid by the appearance of the 1950s. African American and Latino families received no support from the government. Discrimination was widespread. Coontz explains that the sexism

society changed as so women gained the right to vote, women gained more jobs. One thing that

Women in the 1950s were dealing with a lot of things during the 1950s. They were dealing with sexism and not being allowed to seek more than the ideal fulfillment for women.

Recent headlines have highlighted the fact that rape culture is prevalent in our society, most noticeably on college campuses. To understand why this is a social issue we first have to understand what rape culture entails. Rape culture is a set of assumptions that reinforces male sexual aggression and disregards violence against females (Hildebrand & Najdowski, 2015, p. 1062). Simplified, it is an environment where sexual violence is normalized and most of the time excused.

One of the biggest factors that caused the roles of women in the united States to change during the 1920’s was the work they did during World War I. While the men were serving overseas, the women stepped into the men’s jobs and made up the majority of the labor force at that time. This allowed women the chance to show that they can do some of the same jobs that men could do. After the war, the number of women in the workforce increased by twenty-five percent. This opened up more opportunities all over the country to earn their place in providing for their families.

In the 1960s the women's was restricted in nearly every sense. The women's supposed to follow one way of life. which it's to marry, to have a family and give her life to being a homemaker. The women's did not complain, but after while the household was becoming overwhelming with child care, spending hours of daily chores. The husbands did not give the wives no rights of knowing the family income or sharing the certain household. The husbands would have power over their wive's income and property. The husbands made it difficult for the wive's to leave their homes or divorce because divorce was not an option, the wive's would have to immorality sin on their husband to be divorced. The women's that lives in the 1960's who worked accordingly their jobs were teachers, nurse, and secretary. Nevertheless the women's could not attend programs like medical school, they were kept out of any ordinary occupation of their choices, but in the 1960's there was a small amount of women that were doctors, lawyers and the women's where discrimination on their salary, therefore the man's salary was much higher and was not giving the women a fair partnership. The women could not excel in their jobs because the employers thought the women would quit or become pregnant. The employers would hire extra men because they didn't have families to support.

Back in the 1920 's women started becoming extremely significant in the society. Before then, women rarely found jobs that accumulated a high enough income to raise a family. However this act of sexism changed in the early years of the 1920 's, women began to get involved in male dominated jobs. This time it worked, women were finally getting their say in political issues and they eventually got the chance to speak up. The government realized the types of distress and discomfort women went through to keep a healthy lifestyle for their young ones. The technological enhancements the government gave most urbanized households gave women of the 20 's intense ease. Some may argue that women were nothing

Women’s ongoing fight for equality from the 1920s to the 1970s was reflected through their attire.The 1920s were marked by the shockingly short hemlines and their right to vote.While women struggled to get fair pay in the 1930s, they got hired more often than men, which gave them greater independence. However, due to the gloom of the Great Depression, women lost their confidence and their clothing became more conservative.By contrast, the 1940s provided greater opportunities as the United States went to war. Women were able to wear pants to work, oftenly traditionally men’s work, and other daily activities. Despite the great change in the 1940s, the 1950s brought a decline in progress for women’s independence and opportunities. Their clothing

The Women’s Movement was a symbolic movement in achieving political and civil equality. It assisted women lifestyles in the United States, granting them equal opportunities as men. Therefore, the Equal Rights Amendment guaranteed equal rights with men and the Equal Pay Act guaranteed equal pay. But these opportunities rarely helped women since they were prohibited and discriminated from universities and communal school, young girls have to be taught at home by mothers due to the segregation from males and females. In the 1960s, organizations were predominantly constructed for women since they were driven away from society of men and can’t attend schools and colleges. However, in these organizations they’ve made social, economic and political

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.

All people deserve equal rights, no matter what. African Americans who lived during the 1960’s were treated unfairly: They couldn’t use the same bathrooms at white people, they couldn’t swim in the same pool as white people, and they couldn’t even drink from the same drinking fountain as white people. African Americans even went to Vietnam to fight for the common good of their country, though they weren’t even well respected after they risked their lives for their country. After a long time of being treated unfairly, people realized they needed to fight for equal rights. Both adults and young people had to help to change the nation. (Expert 21: America Dreaming)

Minorities in sitcoms were less portrayed in contrast to an accurate representation of the time period. Ironically, minorities in sitcoms were not always represented by minority actors and actresses. Sometimes makeup was used on a white actor so he could portray an African man. It was not until the 1950’s when African Americans were shown on television. African Americans were often portrayed as crooked people with poor English and less education. In the sixties, segregation and racism dominated in most social settings. In the seventies, most minorities were trying to deter from old beliefs of prejudicial ideas. In modern times, minorities have equal rights and respect to their white counterparts. Four sitcoms, Amos ’n’ Andy, Julia, Sanford and Son, and The Cosby Show depict how the role of minorities changed throughout different time periods.

It is said that as a woman you are suppose to stay home, clean up, breed and raise the children. Women were not allowed to hold a higher job or success than men because they might feel intimidated and their ego might actually shirk instead of being inflated. The concept of how women are suppose to portray, have been suppressing women into these roles by both men and women since the earth has been created.

The only job that women were allowed to do was to help their husbands in their farms. But that all had changed when the United States went into wars and men had to go fight for the country. Women began to occupy a few jobs like working in munition factories or becoming the angels of mercy and working as nurses to relieve the soldiers’ pain. That was the starting point for women to begin demanding to work like men. Although occupied few jobs for very low pay, women were still not considered a part of the work force and they did not have any formal workplace rights and usually faced discrimination and unfair treatment from the other gender. It was not until 1963 the Feminine Mystique was written and published by Betty Friedan which was claimed to start the women’s rights movement of the 1960s “The Feminine Mystique is remembered as the book that “started” the women 's movement and 1960s feminism in the United States.” In her book Friedan described her life as a typical housewife of the 1960s, she argued that women’s role was not just to be housewives and do housework, but instead they are a lot more important than that; she also called women to recognize their potential, to speak up and to aspire to work in professional jobs and become equal to men, “She also helped advance the women’s rights movement as one of the founders of the National

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. Even after the war, women were urged to stay at home to take care of the children. On the other hand, males would deal with financial businesses to keep their family out of poverty. These gender roles were embedded