In the 20th century, women in most nations won the right to vote, this in return increased their educational and job opportunities. Which is a good thing compared to tests that were done in the 1960s that showed that women’s scholastic achievement were higher in early grades than in high school because the teachers and families of girls did not expect them to peruse anything but being a wife and mother (wic.org). I would say that that we have come a long way from the early 20th century. Women in positions of power or women who want to work their way to a position of power still tend to have a glass ceiling over them. This is because history tells us that men hold these types of positions women are gaining and proving that they can do just as well as a man in a position of power.
With a mother who chooses to spend much of her time outside the confines of a family home for whatever reason you can expect to see many changes. Another reason mothers have become less dependent on their husbands is because the divorce rate has more than doubled in the last 60 years. It is still agreed that a happy marriage is something to strive for and it is all around better for the family, though the divorce rate is almost at its peek. The woman’s job in the 50’s was to make the family happy and to steer it away from divorce at all possible, and since the woman’s role has changed so has the rate of divorce. Adultery, abuse, and unhappiness are not any less common now than it was 60 years ago, but it is now less tolerated.
Women’s Roles Throughout the history of the United States, women have held many different roles in social, political and economic classes. Before the Civil War, a woman had a traditional role in the home, working as a housewife. The fight for equal and voting rights started but was unfortunately not continued until after the war. With new technology and industrial advances, women’s roles in the work force increased immensely and obtained many new opportunities. Although before the Civil War, women rarely took a part in society, the war significantly changed women’s roles in many ways.
[3] At this point, it is clear that women are becoming more active in mainstream society, which worried many conservatives. The conservatives would probably not support the new bungalow style house for that reason. On the other extreme were women who lobbied for kitchenless houses and public childcare
We Can Do It Statistics show that during World War II the number of working American women jumped from nearly 9 million to 20 million merely because of a simple poster encouraging women (Wiki). This poster of a now well know woman, Rosie the Riveter, refer to a period in American history that can be considered the beginning of a major shift in the role of women. During World War II, when millions of men were conscripted or voluntarily joined the armed forces, defense plants in the United States had to continue producing needed artillery, weapons, and other goods for the war effort. At the time, reasonably few women worked outside the home, and even fewer would have worked in factories like those producing airplanes and other military goods. Enlisted to see to it that production did not decrease in this time of emergency, the female
Even with the economic boom that made staying at home possible, the jobs available to women were limited in both type and potential. Even though women had acquired better homes and more conveniences than in any previous generation, by the 1960s, a full-time homemaker spent more than fifty-five hours a week on her domestic chores. Collins notes that, “many of the young couples setting up housekeeping were escaping hard times, and a stay-at-home wife was a kind of trophy—a sign that the family had made it to middle-class success and stability.” . She points out that if many women welcomed the role of full-time housekeeper and homemaker, it did not reflect a “lack of enterprise” on their parts. After all, the jobs available to women were
However, by the mid 1900’s women were finally allowed to go to school, have a sophisticated career and sometimes, make more than their husband. Women now lead busy lives and with high level education, and careers, some women choose not to get married and the divorce rate is over 50%. Women have gained a lot of respect. In the 1920’s, men thought they were better than women, however now, many women hold high positions of power including, MP’s, Prime Minister and Premiers. Women can have highly respected positions and have proved themselves as leaders.
Kay Sarkodie SOCI 2301 Professor Boutte-Heiniluoma November 9, 2014 The Changing American Families America’s culture has changed in drastically since the 1950’s (MailOnline). From the music people listen to, the fashion industry, technological advances, and the type of activities people are doing for fun – the American culture has taken a complete turn. There have also been serious changes in marriage and family culture. Marriages in the 2000’s are not like they were when our grandparents and parents were young (Elliot). Without a change, all women would still be living life as a housewife like Lucy from “I Love Lucy” (Lamb) Divorce rates have increased since the 1950’s and the couples are getting divorced under different circumstances.
Fenjy Duval Not only do we wage wars with other countries against money, allegedly the same things can be found happening with genders. The infamous gender wage gap, although precedent throughout all time, our era of revelations has pin pointed more focus on it than ever before. The gender wage gap has increasingly improved throughout time, yet the numbers are still quite staggering. Katie Johnston, staff member at the Boston Globe, writes, “Hispanic women who clean offices and houses for a living make just 54 cents on the dollar compared with what male janitors make. Compared with their Hispanic male counterparts, Latina cleaners make just 59 percent.” This instance is only one of many that occur throughout all tiers of the economic agenda.
The main goal of Vanderkam’s article was to eliminate the social inequality assumption that men make more money than women, and also, that women are no longer going to be considered a minority in the workforce. Vanderkam referenced a Wall Street Journal article that concluded women in major United States cities make anywhere from eight to twenty-one percent more money than male workers (the same age, and in the same field). Vanderkam feels this type of data proves that more women are going to college, and more women are seeking full-time employment after college graduation. Many argue that social inequality still exists, and is in favor of women. In studies provided by the Census Bureau, women proved to have worked more hours per week than men.