The Evolution Of Gender Stereotypes Of 1950s Women

The 1950s are often cited as “televisions ‘golden age’” (Press 140). The media was filled with images of suburban living and advertisements for new gadgets that would improve this standard. Arguably the most iconic image of this decade, the housewife was featured in nearly all of 1950s media. Images of the housewife could be found at every step in the 50s, but was this depiction of American women truly accurate to the reality they faced? Despite the truths of the housewife lifestyle presented by 1950s media, popular culture failed to acknowledge the rarity of housewives, the reasons women were forced into that role, and the reality that women of color were too busy fighting for their rights to stay at home.

The suburban sitcoms of the 1950s

1950s America was home to many Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native women, yet they were non-existent in the decade’s television (Hamilton). The media of this time seemed to pretend that non-white women didn’t exist when in reality, they were a vital part of this decade. Black women like Rosa Parks weren’t housewives. They were protesting the constant discrimination they faced and joining the “mass phase of the civil rights movement” (Foner). The next phase of the civil rights movement was beginning, but the 50s’ media didn’t acknowledge that. Nor did it acknowledge the fact that Black women couldn’t have the housewife lifestyle because “half of the nation’s black families lived in poverty” and most suburban communities had “non-white populations of less than 1 percent” (Foner). Yes, the lack of non-whites in suburban sitcoms was accurate to the reality of the 1950s. However, these television programs were inaccurate in the fact that they created a reality where non-whites simply didn’t exist. The truth is, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native women were all throughout America during the 50s, they had just been forced out of the housewife living standard by harsh