The Role of Women in The 1950s

Sajeda Ahmad December 7, 2017
1st

The depiction of a happy housewife during the 1950s is accurate?

Men were coming back from war, settling back into their regular lives that they were in
before. Who do you think took the place of men while they were at war? Women. Women were
the “men” in the family, controlling things around the house, and even decided to go into the
workforce. Unfortunately, women were always stereotyped to be housewives and mothers,
and when men came back from war in the 1950s, they took back the jobs that women were
working for them, and women went back to their housewife duties. The depiction of a happy
housewifes during the 1950s was not accurate at all. Young women were stereotypically
distressed and were even taught in schools about being a wife. Women would get tired and
bored of the housework they expected to complete and had not much to do in their freetime.
Men made it seem like it was a good thing to be a stay at home wife and to serve them.

Women were stereotypically distressed and were expected to be the perfect
housewives and expected to serve them. In the article A Women’s Role In the 1950s, it
describes that “women were supposed to fulfill certain roles, such as a caring mother, a
diligent homemaker, and an obedient wife.” This shows how women were stereotyped into the
thoughts of just caring for children, completing housework, and obeying their husbands every
order. A woman was not expected to do more than that, not even expected to have a career of
her choice. Young women were even taught how to be good housewives while they were in
school, before they even had the chances to get married. The same document A Women’s Role
In the 1950s, it shows how women were taught in school as well. “The 1950s American High
School Home Economics textbook. An essay found in the book is entitled ‘How to be a Good
Wife.’” This explains how in an economics class, young women were empowered to be a
“good” wife. This stereotyping leads back to how women were not happy and the depiction of
a housewife was inaccurate, they were like house prisoners to their husbands, they had no
freedom to do whatever they want besides cook, clean, raise children, and obey their
husbands.

Women always ended up having freetime on their hands. After cleaning the house,
which does not take more than just 1-2 hours, probably sending her children to school, and
cooking, a lady might still have a few hours to herself. Men usually wouldn’t go home till the
evening. Women had nothing else to do while they could have been working somewhere and
having successful careers while supporting their families. The article also implies “When
women started complaining of boredom, society invented the sewing and quilt making clubs.”
Quilting and sewing were also technically housework except women decided to do that job
together to have a bit of fun. But following that sentence states “They would do anything to
please their men because their life depended on them so much.” This is indicating how women
had no one else to depend on besides their husbands, they could not even depend on
themselves, even through all the work they do to be as “perfect” as they can be for their
husbands, family, and society.

Some tried to prove that being a housewife was not all that bad. In the document Do
Now: Women Roles in the 1940s and 1950s, You can see the images of what women were
working in the 1950s, They were working as housewives, but as the newspaper image and
other image to the right show, the women seem happy as to what they are doing. This can
show that maybe some women might like the life of a housewife.

Throughout the 1950s there has been many depictions of housewives and what is
accurately seen of them. Women were not happy during the 1950s, they did not enjoy being
housewives, they wanted to be into the workforce. For example, in the video viewed in class,
we can see the woman has really enjoyed her job and would not leave it for anything, no
matter the situation, even if it had to include marriage. Women could have been both
housewives and be in the workforce. That is what ¾ of the 19 million women were doing while
their husbands were away at war.

The Role of Women in The 1950s

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Role of Women in The 1950s

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Role of Women in The 1950s

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sajeda Ahmad December 7, 2017

You might also like