The Women In Society

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

My essay will be about Gender, specifically women in society.

Over the years, there have been extreme changes amongst understanding the roles of gender in an average society. Has it ever come across your attention the role of a woman from around 50 years ago? Research suggests that "the role of women in the 1950’s was suppressant and constrictive in many ways" (REF??). Their family and home was their first priority. Whereas, women in today’s society have different expectations. They are more revolved in social contexts rather than their family and home. This research conducted contains an interview which was done by a 72 year old friend named Jennifer, which tells about the gender roles in society, precisely, the women.

Generally, the woman of the 1950’s was described as ‘the perfect woman’. She dedicated her whole life to her children, house duties and how to follow orders and please her husband. She was a caring mother, a hard-working homemaker, and a submissive wife (REF??). Announced in the interview by Jennifer, she claims that the expectations of "the women were supposed to stay home, do their job as caring for their children, a diligent homemaker and an obedient wife". As a mother, she is expected to take all her time to care for her children and raise them, which includes manners and also help them with their homework. She is likely to always keep them clean, which includes before and after dinner, before bed, and especially when their father is coming home from a long day of work. According to Jennifer, being a hard-worker meant that a woman had to always "keep her house clean and tidy, and preparing and cooking meals perfectly on time, on the table before her husband walked home from work". This is only one of the many characteristics of a perfect woman. Jennifer recalls that "it was important in our days to fix our appearance by putting make up and fixing our hair to please our husbands when they come home". It would come to the extent that woman will take their husbands shoes off, clean and massage their feet in order to keep them happy. Why? Research claims that during the period of the 1950’s, women would do anything to please their men because their life depended on them so much. The men were to have total control of their wives. This notion then comes down to the term social imagination. Why is it so important to understand it today? Sociological imagination is the "quality of mind" (Mills, 1959: p. 4) that enables us to look outside our everyday life and see the entire society as if we were an outsider with the benefit of acknowledge of human and social behaviour. It allows us to see how society shapes and influences our life experiences. So as a woman, their chores and duties are expected to be of high standard in order to please her husband, family and society and be referred to ‘the perfect woman’. Such over exaggerated behavior was typical of women at this time. They wanted to appeal to men and society; as a result, they felt like they needed to be a perfect and hard working mother. They only felt secure when they were praised for their house keeping. This way, sociological imagination is very useful as it allows us to relate the situations in which we live our daily lives to global societal issues that affect us. According to C. Wright Mills, it "enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals" (Mills, 1959: p. 5). Another important aspect of women in the 1950’s is that being intelligent and independent such as men was not as appropriate as being a perfect mother and wife. She never really had any rights. The idea portrayed in society for women is that they were encouraged to be a housekeeper rather than entering the work force. Jennifer mentions that "it was very rare for women to be working back in my days, and if there were any, it would be very challenging for her as she wouldn’t be treated equally with wages and status". However, during the World War II, things have changed. Due to men being obliged to attend the army and fight in the war, women were invading the workforce in order to work and provide for their children and families. This movement is the key to significant changes of today’s society and women.

In today’s society, women are able to work side by side with their husbands in order to build a life together and share their rights. For women to be respected now, she has to be a career woman balancing both children and a job. She gets to have the same wages as men and can become of equal status as them, for example, becoming a lawyer, or a mathematics genius. The idea of gender roles has faded away. For example, I am a married mother of one child who puts her baby in child care in order to work as a hobby and at the same time support my family financially. The place where I work has both women and men. Wherever you go you see that there are mainly women working in the workforce, whether it is receptionist, retail or even in restaurants. Due to the prices rising in this country, everything is becoming pricey, therefore, it is an advantage for both men and women to work together to support each other. Although the notion of women’s roles in society has changed, they are still the ones who need to nurture for their children and become a housekeeper. Motherhood is the most important feminine role that a woman fulfills. Thus, the role of a woman as a human being remains her most essential role in life. However, the pressure is not as oppressed as back in the 1950’s. For example, today, there are many child care facilities that encourage parents to enroll their children so that they can go out and work or have a break from responsibilities. Also, due to the availability of take away restaurants, women usually cook less and prefer to eat out which makes it easier for them. For example, sometimes I come from work and too tired to prepare anything so we go out to buy pizza or sandwiches to have for dinner. In addition, in comparison to the way the wife welcomes the husband home after he comes from work is somewhat different. The marital relationship is no longer a relationship in which the female provides the male with her biological drives. It will rather be a human relationship where each partner, male or female, makes use of his own distinguishing characteristics in order to give the other what satisfies both his emotional and physical needs ("A Woman’s Role"). For example, I do not have to fix my appearance, have the food on the table ready, clean and prepare my house and son before my husband comes home. I just need to be natural. My husband has his rights the same way I have mine. We work together as a team. Society does not emphasis and enforces any notion towards women today and allows them to be treated almost equally as men.

Overall, Jennifer’s experience as a woman in the 1950’s is way different than my experience as a woman of today’s society. Jennifer was living in a society that portrayed woman to be hard working only to her home, husband and children. Working for women was not encouraged. Whereas in today’s society, due to the World War II Circumstances, women, such as I, have equal rights as men and are not fully obliged to be a housekeeper, but at the same time, being a woman means looking after her own children and still doing her chores.