During the mid-20th century
to now, culture has influenced women greatly. The role of women had changed
drastically
during the years in the 20th century. Before the war, women had
opportunities in the workforce while their husbands were off to fight in the
war. America expected the women to help in the country’s efforts by occupying
defense jobs. Soon after the war ended, women were pushed into their homes as
men took their places in the workforce. Although many women had been pushed
into their homes after the war, some of them had kept their jobs because their
job was generally considered in their culture as a job for a woman. Although
they still had jobs, they were left with “the low-paying and unglamorous work no returning veteran would
want to snatch.”[1]
In America at the time, women were expected to
dress and act a particular way. This was due to the changing culture. The way women
dressed was constantly changed throughout many years of the constant change in
culture, especially in the 20th century. Women were
expected to wear, “Their full skirts came to midcalf and were held out with
stiff petticoats made of taffeta or some equally itchy fabric. Or they wore
equally long formfitting sheathes that constrained the wearer to take only tiny
steps as she tottered along in her 4-inch stiletto-heeled shoes.”[2]
Women in this time were going to great lengths in order to fit into their culture.
Women were
even expected to act a certain way around men as well. Women were influenced by
culture to act helpless and not as smart as the men. “They dropped out of
college, married early, and read women’s magazines that urged them to hold on
to their husband’s love by pretending to be dumb and helpless”[3]
This expectation in their gender role had made it seem that females were not as
superior as men and that they needed to rely on their husband to take care of
them. Women had been portrayed in culture as dependent and dumb. This made it
difficult when women were fighting to gain equal rights.
Although culture was changing a lot during
this time, the economy also had a significant effect on women. “Americans spent
a disproportionate amount of their disposable income on appliances in the 1950s—everybody
wanted the biggest and best.”[4] Appliances
that came on the market, made it easier for women to complete their household
duties. Although many households were buying new products, certain minority
groups were excluded from many of the nicer homes and high paying jobs.[5] Also
this boom in household appliances had an effect on the changing culture in
America. For example, the “television was the single greatest cultural
influence of the postwar era, and it invaded the country almost overnight.”[6]
Following the
broad adoption of the television within American households, there were
particular shows that significantly changed the culture. In the show Leave It to Beaver, the wife was
portrayed as a highly-dressed woman that was happy with her duty as a mother.[7]
This influenced Americans on what they should think a typically female role
should entail. Another famous show and actor that influenced the culture of
what women were portrayed as was Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy. “Lucy was virtually the only TV wife who didn’t seem
entirely content at home. But her attempts at working always led to disaster,
and by the final curtain she had learned her lesson, at least until next week.”[8]
This characterized women as not smart and incapable of duties outside the
household. When Lucille Ball became pregnant in real life, scriptwriters wrote
her condition as ‘expectant’, since the word pregnant was barred from the air.
The culture at the time wanted to reject want any suggestion that the actors
had sex even in a TV show.[9]
During
the time when Rosa Parks was arrested for denying sitting in the back of the
bus, there were many protests. The black community had been outraged by this
incident and boycotted the city bus system for more than a year.[10] This
protest had made a significant impact in the black community, including the
black women who were treated the worst. The event was so important that Martin
Luther King Jr. probably wouldn’t have been so famous if Rosa Parks had not
refused to give the white man the seat.[11]
[1] Gail Collins, America’s Women: 400 Years of Dolls,
Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines. New York: Harper Perennial, 2009. http://www.ebooks.com/1571332/america-s-women/collins-gail/, 378.
[2] Gail Collins,
Ibid., 377.
[3] Gail Collins,
Ibid., 378.
[4] Gail Collins,
Ibid., 383.
[5] Gail Collins,
Ibid., 379-380.
[6] Gail Collins,
Ibid., 390.
[7] Gail Collins,
Ibid., 390.
[8] Gail Collins,
Ibid., 390.
[9] Gail Collins,
Ibid., 390.
[10] Gail Collins,
Ibid., 397-398.
[11] Gail Collins,
Ibid., 397.
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