1990s Reversal Analysis

How often do you hear your friends, family, or acquaintances say they would like to go back to simpler times such as the 1950s - the era where you could wear fancy poodle skirts, drive big cars, eat at your favorite diner, or catch a movie at the drive in. Americans tend to think of the positive aspects of the 1950’s. Unfortunately during that era women were treated unfairly. Even though women had rights, they were still unequal to men. Fortunately feminism has progressed since then. Today, women comprise over 50% of the workforce. Nonetheless, men still cling to stereotypes that should have been destroyed long ago, whether in the workplace, at home, or in society.

Everyone can agree that sexism had its talons deep in the flesh of the American mindset during the 1800's and although this is an obvious fact, few people understand just how hostile an environment it was for a woman. Among those few, were the women living in this malicious medium. From corsets to kitchens, housekeeping to health, life was not easy for even the most well-to-do woman. Although not all women decried their situation, a strong-minded minority dropped their oven mits, put their fists in the air, and called out for a change. Equal opportunity, equal right to vote, equal pay, and all around equality is what they demanded. But feminism was not only found at suffrage rallys or Grange meetings, it made its way in to every medium,

The gender roles in America have changed tremendously since the end of the American Civil War. Women and men, who once lived in separate spheres are now both contributing to American society. Women have gone from the housewife so playing key roles in the country's development in all areas. Though our society widely accepts women and the idea that our society is gender neutral, the issues that women once faced in the late 1860s are still here.

The woman’s role in society had many changes during the era of WWII to the baby boom era. It went from the strong independent woman that can work in a factory to a house wife that takes care of the family to the final slightly dominant, but still dependent female. All of these different feminine mystiques were changed because of society and through indirect propaganda in TV shows and

In the 1960’s, women had been placed in stereotypical roles for years. But women were tired of these roles and were done with being complacent. They felt like something was missing in their lives, and they desired something more. The typical American

The current counterculture and social upheavals of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam war caused this new feminism to emerge, signaling the beginning of a transforming era in women’s history (TWE, 607). Women were tired of living in a man’s world where they

This module's primary sources engage the always-changing ideas of gender how we understand masculinity and feminity. How were notions of gender in the end of the Gilded Age/beginning of Progressive Era different than previous ideas? How have these ideas changed in the last century? How have they stayed the same?

Everyday history is evolving and being affected by the past. With history comes questions as to how it came into being, and the fascination that is inscribed with it. Where did I come from, why do wars happen, why is society like this, are all questions that can be explored through the viewing of history. With this in mind, this essay will discuss the possible reasoning’s behind: Why have the roles of American women in society changed since the 1940’s? While this question will not have a distinguished answer, several factors have contributed to forming an answer such as: World War II, Madison Avenue, and contraceptives.

Levy further asserts her binary comparison in a temporal manner by comparing the feminism of the past with the feminism of the present, as she claims “in recent years, the term feminism has fallen further and further out of favour” (Levy, 86). By framing her own views of feminism as those belonging to an earlier point in the timeline, she privileges these views as “original” or “authentic”. Yet this does not acknowledge that the “anti-porn wars” of the 80’s was a point at which feminism branched out, rather than transitioned from one set of beliefs to another. As a result, the cultural changes that she observed occurred in the presence of both stances of feminism, making it difficult to distil the cause. Levy privileges past over present in her suggestion

In today’s society, norms and values had evolved and are accepted by society. In the mid 1900s to the late 1900s one of the biggest change in society is gender roles. Before, woman’s aren’t allow to work, vote and they have to stay home and do household jobs, pretty much they are treated unequal to man. They had no voice, woman pay taxes but they’re dead in the eye of laws , woman can't have a college education, and they have to depend on man.

Second wave feminism first emerged in the wake of World War II in the late 1940’s. It originated as a response to the post war boom. After World War II, the United States’ economy flourished, the population soared, capitalism emerged more triumphant than ever, and suburbia expanded like never before. The socio-economic state of the U.S. at this time lent itself spectacularly to middle-class familial expansion. During this time there was also a marked and, many would argue, a conscious effort to return to the patriarchal gender roles in place prior to World War II. That is to say, the nuclear family was in its glory days with the man being the undeniable head of house, and the woman his subservient housewife. The social movement toward female domesticity was heavily advocated through media propaganda which depicted the woman as a wife and mother exclusively, in the closed sphere of the home. We have previously seen with the emergence of first wave feminism the rise of feminist agenda that comes out of woman’s subordination at the hand of her husband, and misogynistic government policy and paradigm. It is this same sentiment that triggered the need for another wave of feminism, that is to say, the second wave. (Brownmiller, 36-38.)

Home › 2001 › Volume 53, Issue 01 (May) › What Happened to the Women’s Movement?

In America, women completely rejected men, not allowing male friends or allies. Radical feminism in America had no simple set goals or aims, but rather was united over its dissatisfaction of the patriarchy. They differed from equal rights feminists by “concentrating on the traditional female concerns of love, sex, and children.” (393). In this society, the idea of breaking apart the family structure was very radical.

“If one compares a woman in 1900 with her counterpart in 2000, the gains have been significant. There were the obvious changes, such as the right to vote and other governmental policies supporting women in the 1960s and 1970s. The results were women successfully engaging in certain jobs for the first time. Where women were once a minority, or excluded entirely, by 1980, they accounted for more than half of all undergraduate students”,

The period of the twentieth century, specifically the nineteen-twenties, was a historically significant event in history due to the dramatic changes politically and socially. In this time period there was many altercations between two specific groups who had completely different outlooks on change. Modernists, or people who tended to be in favor of new ideas, styles and social trends, embraced the idea of change during this time period whereas traditionalist, or people who are opposed to change, had deep respect for long held cultural and religious values that they believed should not be broken under any circumstances. The disputes between the traditionalist and modernist over religious beliefs made way into the woman’s lives leaving pop culture to rise rapidly.