exam.roleofwomen

=The Changing Role of Women=

Interesting editorial in the New York Times on the issue of women and jobs: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/opinion/09hirshman.html
 * Taylor and Lindsey**

Which INDIVIDUALS illustrate the changing role of women in American society between the progressive era and the 1950s? -- -- Goes from Rosie the Riviter a strong and demanding women that dared to step outside of the house and work while men were away to the typical house wife (after WWII) that was expected to please her husband and not leave the house. -- Today women are treated equal as men and excpected to follow their dreams whether that be inside our outside of the home (typically)

What developments and/or events contributed to the changing role of women? -- After WWI women were rewarded sufarage -- WWII gave women many job oportunities with men being gone -- When men returned the jobs were taken from most women and they left the workforce (forced or willingly) -- Women were elected into offices (? time period)

 Flappers of the 1920s: ·  The 1920s, The Progressive Era, was the decade that led to improvement and development in America’s society, government, and economy. ·  Women earned right to vote – 19th Amendment ·  Women given better job opportunities ·  Confidence to be bold in their femininity and embrace their Independence as women à 1920s gave birth to the “flapper” ** Life Before the flapper: ** ·  Many traditionalists saw the new fashion statement as a form of rebellion and prostitution ·  Showing too much skin represented nudity and sexuality which is why flapper fashion was frowned upon because women were expected to look and dress a certain way ·  The society became modernized with the introduction of the car and the “new woman” flapper fashion. ·  Flappers were young women of the 1920s who showed freedom of conventions. ·  Women saw the fashion of the Flapper as a form of freedom from the norm (tradition views of women) ·  Media depicted women in a certain way è  Clara Bow: one major movie star of the 20’s was portrayed as the “it” girl è  Women in general were portrayed as “sex symbols” è<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Media made society women believe this is how they should be portrayed; bought into the hype o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Boom of buying new merchandise and materialistic commodities o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  The value of a woman was not on how she could contribute to society it was how society envisioned her contributing and that was by her looks Women before/during WWII: ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Census data showed that many women entered higher-paying jobs as early as WWI, but many jobs were revoked and given back to the men after the war had ended. ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  The qualified woman for a job was instead placed in a menial position as oppose to a man. ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Women were given jobs that were “best-fit” for them such as a nurse or writer ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  In 1920, women who worked= 23% By 1930, women who worked= 24% ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Women were taken seriously because they were needed to fill in for the men who were off fighting in the war. ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Women were the bread winners for their family providing support and income for their families ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Women felt appreciated and taken into consideration by society during this time and it gave them confidence and allowed them to experience a world that they never had a chance to experience. ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Women who had careers were considered heroines o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  a women who stood for something o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  supported her husband in war by working and doing w/o so he could have enough o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  took pride in who she was ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  This new mentality made women apply themselves and work harder as individuals because they were doing it for their country, husband, children, and partly to prove to themselves that they could do it. ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  From 1940-1945 some 6.5 million women entered the workforce, more than half of them for the first time. Women accounted for just 25 percent of workers in 1940 but 36 percent in 1945. //ATF//, “From Rosie to Lucy” pg.351-352 ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  The quality of their job also improved ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">     <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">  The racial and stereotypical view of women (African American women) had been shattered ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Men arrived from war and women were then pushed back into the shadows ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Certain companies and businesses like General Motors would divide the workload between men and women, work then became “heavy” and “light”, and men received more pay. ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Femininity was being threaten, divorce, alcohol consumption, and delinquency rates increased and the media focused in on maternal neglect as the issue in society’s problems ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Some women volunteered to return to their previous lives as homemakers but after the war more than 75% of women still wanted to keep their jobs. ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Many women who managed to get their jobs back lost their seniority and were placed back in the smaller positions, their quality of worked changed o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Women were nurses, not doctors o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  They were teachers, not principals o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Women were tellers, not bankers ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Women were seen no where in any higher form of authority ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Media had a way of presenting their idea of what a woman should be because the new Amazon was a women who could “out swear, out drink and out swagger any man” //ATF// 352. Men who had been off at war had images and interpretations of their own depictions of how women should be portrayed. Once the men returned home from war, those that were employed in public communication leaked these bias and discriminatory images of women into society. ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">   <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">  The demographic shift of women into the workplace was revolutionary but it wasn’t terminal. ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Obviously the role of women in society has made immense progression in comparison with the 1920s. Many women are employed in expert positions as astronauts, doctors, and judges. This year we have had a break in history. The United States came really close to electing its first female president (Hilary Clinton) and female vice-president (Sarah Palin). However, I do believe that even with all of this evidence that women are capable of doing anything that it still is not a sufficient amount of proof. ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Different businesses throughout the U.S are deviously manipulating women in the work area and the media still portrays women as “sex-symbols”. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”- Eleanor Roosevelt Anyone can do whatever they put their minds to doing.
 * Before: **
 * During WWII: **
 * After WWII (Women in 50s) **
 * Women 2008: **