1. The Cold War had a great impact on American women. When the country was going through difficult times, women were expected to go back to their domestic duties. The society was, once again, returning to its old traditions, where the woman was a housewife and the man, the provider. Women who worked outside of their homes made their men look weak in the eyes of the society. While during the World War II the country tried to take women out of their homes to substitute men’s jobs, it was very different during the Cold War. There was a big propaganda going on in the media and television to turn women back to their homes and make them the “old fashion” housewives.
2. What Betty Friedan wrote made the historians analyze it twice. While Friedan talked about housewives and how they served their husbands. However, what really made the historians re-analyze her writings was that Friedan only talked about one class of women, upper class white. Historians found that Betty Friedan didn’t mention black women and their lives. In her writings Friedan didn’t even describe the middle class white women. Another thing that caught the historians attention was that she only mentioned women who didn’t work outside of their homes. She never mentioned the working women.
3. The working class women, predominantly white, who went further in the labor force were the activist women of the 1950s. To start, all women faced many difficulties, such as discrimination and education problems when it came to getting a job. Latinas and African American were most of the time, discriminated. Additionally, women who didn’t have education couldn’t get jobs either. Women who had education were mostly white middle class. Therefore, they became the activists.
4. During the civil rights movement the idea and role of a leader was not precisely a woman. While female civil rights activists worked as hard as male did, their work was represented by men. At times women, just like during the World War II, were only substitutes for men for a short period of time. For instance, Ella Baker was only an executive director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference because there was no male candidate found. She was temporarily appointed, until a male candidate could be found. The society at the time, (and even today) wouldn’t choose a female leader to follow regardless of women’s contributions to the civil rights movement.
4 comments:
Aylin R #1
Hello Marianna, I agree with your response to question 1 where women were expected to work and help out during the WWII yet the Cold War promoted women to return to their domestic roles as the men were returning home and this would be a slap in the face for the woman to be working while the man is unemployed. Women were togged back and fort in the workforce as they were needed one day, and looked down on the next day because they weren’t sticking to their domestic roles as being a house wife and raising their children. Also, your response to question 3 covers the women who were discriminated in the workforce and you mentioned how most White women were educated and that resulted in them becoming employed; however, many African American women had gone to school and had some sort of a diploma whether it was from high school, or if they had made it to college, but they weren’t hired as easily due to their color. At last, I loved how you mentioned in your last response that women leaders worked just as hard as men but it was men who represented and got credit for their work and you chose a perfect candidate as an example as Ella Barker was truly a substitute for the amount of time that she held her position.
Sharmagh D- Response #2:
Hey Aylin,
I completely agree with yours and Marianna's blogs. Women were respected and acknowledge so much during World War II while the men were out fighting. As soon as the men returned home, the women were forced to return back home to their domestic roles. The men did not want the women working the same types of jobs as them, it made them feel less manly. Just like the example Professor Ramos showed us in class with the breadlines. There was a strict line that distinguished gender roles. Also, we both know that education was extremely important in getting a job during the 1950's. Though some African Americans had more education than some of the White Americans but still struggled at finding the same types of jobs as them because they were faced with discrimination. Both of you explained your answers with great details. See you both in class tomorrow.
Response # 1
Tatev
Hi there Marianna. Is it not said how employees and the society itself were nice and respectful to women only in times of needs. What I mean is and I know you have mentioned, when men were away fighting WWII posters were made to encourage women to work and support their country. But during the Cold War when men came back from army women were sent back to their houses. At these times they were encouraged to stay at home. What I wander is how come nobody questioned the fact that when men were away it was for the country that women work and it was not a shame but now that men are back it is wrong for women to work. Or maybe someone did question but never got the chance to speak out. It is amazing what propaganda can do to how people view and think about things. Another thing that was interesting in your blog was what you said about Betty Freidan and how she only talked about high class white women. She did not mention anything about working middle class black women. She herself was a working woman but in her book she did not discuss them and like you said I think that is why the historians analyzed her book and even criticized.
Mariam R 2
Hi Aylin,
You made a great point by stating that African American women were educated as well, however they were still racially discriminated. Discrimination is one thing that has been continuing throughout history. If it wasn’t gender discrimination it was racial discrimination. Women have been discriminated continually. They were forced to adjust to many different situations at any given time. And I agree with both you and Marianna about the credit being given to men. No matter how hard and well women worked they were not credited for their hard work. The patriarchal system greatly affected all women in the society.
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