Essay Sample on The Role of Women in the 1950s

Introduction

The struggle of gender equality has been there for decades, as women have sought ways to fight for their rights. These struggles have taken different shapes, ranging from political, economic, and social spheres. Notably, women have struggled in History in relation to their gender roles which have been defined majorly by culture in many civilizations. In the United States, endless efforts have been made to fight against gender inequality in terms of gender roles for many years. Historically, the struggle for gender identity in terms of women roles have been changing within different historical periods, from the World War period, the cold war period and the post-war period. In these periods, women were attributed to different roles, as each period was characterized by changing organization in the family, society expectation of women, and the influence of media in relation to women roles. One such period when the debate on the role of women was more prominent was in the 1950s. In this period, after the world war, the question many historians and researchers sought to answer and find out was what defined the role of women in society. Generally, the biological reproductive function of women, societal and cultural attitudes towards womanhood to a great extent defined the role of women during this era.

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The cultural view of the American family, marriage, and childbearing became the center of struggle in relation to the role of women in 1950. This struggle defined the role of women in society, which was different from older generations, especially in the 1930s ("Women in the 1950s"). The American society was characterized by a general stereotype that a woman must be married, negative attribution of single women, large families, stay-at-home moms, highest rate of childbearing, and birth control introduction ("Mrs. America: Women's Roles in the 1950s | American Experience | PBS"). In this period, concepts such as the "M.R.S." Degree rose up meaning that women went to school to get a husband, with marriage while in college or immediately after college was seen as a norm ("Mrs. America: Women's Roles in the 1950s | American Experience | PBS"). Being single as a woman was not just seen as undesirable, but as totally unacceptable for any woman, with pregnancy at singlehood seen as one of the greatest offense a woman could possibly commit at the time. Further, women got married at an early age and childbearing started immediately, and thus the society was characterized by large families ("Women in the 1950s"). Consequently, women role changed, as women were expected to stay home, as they took care of children and performed other domestic chores. Notably, sex was seen as a key component of a happy, loving and healthy marriage, and thus childbearing was at its peak at the time. As noted in Chapter 14, Rosie to Lucy, "For the next fifteen years the United States had one of the highest birthrates in the world, rising from an average of 1.9 to 2.3 children for each woman of childbearing age." This was after the Second World War, 1945. It is further noted that "The average age of marriage dropped from 22 in 1900 to 20.3 in 1962" (Davidson and Lytle 346). These conditions greatly shaped and determined the role of women in society.

The biological reproductive function of women has been traditionally used to define their role in association to not only childbearing but also multiple tasks such as domestic activities (Powell 97). In her book The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan noted that the role of women at this time was determined by the attitudes towards them as seen through the mass media and the demographic profile. The book, as noted in Chapter 14, From Rosie to Lucy, "... it simply makes certain concrete, finite, domestic aspects of feminine existence-as it was lived by women whose lives were confined by necessity to cooking, cleaning, washing, bearing children-into a religion, a pattern by which all women must now live or deny their femininity." (Davidson and Lytle 341) Thus, the role of women in society was determined by biological, social and cultural factors. These factors affect the role of women as it was their biological nature to bear children that made them become mothers to bigger families, while the society expected them to get married, become housewives, perform domestic duties, and love their husband by not denying them sex, and hence they became victims of large nuclear families ("Mrs. America: Women's Roles in the 1950s | American Experience | PBS"). The societal attitudes, as expressed by the media also shaped their role to a greater extent. In reference to mass media, Friedan noted in her book that, "The purveyors of popular culture suddenly seemed determined to persuade women that they should not just accept but actually embrace the idealized image of women as wives and mothers." (Davidson and Lytle 348) Therefore, the culture at the time was greatly influential in defining the role of women in society.

Changes in the role of women in the modern civilizations have gone against the traditional definitions of their role, with involvement in the workforce and economic empowerment of women taking a leading role in their definition. But what should define the role of women in society? Most certainly, biological, social and cultural factors should not be used to define their role. However, the status of women gets higher as societies get wealthier (Lemmon). Therefore, equal access to employment opportunities challenges and ought to challenge the traditional role of women in the society, and thus empowering them to perform beyond the family constraints (Karuppusamy 20). Further, factors such as education, training, and skill development, access to decent and quality paid work, reevaluation of unpaid work and work burdens, leadership and collective action, social protection, and equal access to assets, property and financial services all determine women economic empowerment (Lemmon). Therefore, to challenge and challenge gender roles in relation to women, such factors should be addressed in the realization of equality in terms of gender roles.

Conclusion

In conclusion, women through the 1950s saw conformity in terms of gender roles as women roles greatly changed. Generally, the reproductive biological nature of women, coupled with cultural and societal attitude greatly defined women role in the society. With the increase in childbearing rates, lower age for marriage, and the propaganda that women ought to be at home influenced their roles in the society. Consequently, women found them performing domestic activities, bearing many children, getting married at earlier ages, and leaving the workforce for men. These conditions greatly affected the position of women in society. To realize gender equality, economic empowerment should greatly influence and define women role in society.

Works Cited

"Mrs. America: Women's Roles in the 1950s | American Experience | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-mrs-america-womens-roles-1950s/.

"Women in the 1950s." Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/postwarera/1950s-america/a/women-in-the-1950s.

Davidson, James W., and Mark H. Lytle. After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection. Alfred A. Knopf, 1982.

Karuppusamy, Dr. R. "Socio-Economic Factors on Women Empowerment." International Journal of Scientific Research and Management, 2017.

Lemmon, Gayle T. "Ten Factors That Affect Women's Economic Empowerment." Council on Foreign Relations, 30 Sept. 2016, www.cfr.org/blog/ten-factors-affect-womens-economic-empowerment.

Powell, Dorian. "The Role of Women in the Caribbean." Social and Economic Studies, vol. 33, no. 2, June 1984, pp. 97-122, www.jstor.org/stable/27862073. Accessed 2 Feb. 2019.