The Patriarchal Society in 1950s America
Location
Ponderosa Room C
Presentation Type
Presentation
Presentation Topic
Women's History
Start Date
3-3-2023 3:35 PM
Event Sort Order
48
Abstract
The topic that I will be discussing at the No Limits conference deals with how the patriarchal society affected women and their lives in 1950s America. In my paper, I discussed and wrote about how society restricted women in three different aspects: the media, work, and education. Not only did these aspects restrict women, but also, they influenced how a woman would go about her life and told women how they should act and be. Several key historians were used in my paper. They include the following: Caroline Bird, Lisa Lindquist Dorr, Tracey Kim Hoover, J.A. Jacobs, Andrea Press, Linda Van Ingen, and Susan Ware. These historians explored all the areas I will be discussing and concluded the ways of how these aspects of the 1950s influenced the restriction on women. My argument and thesis is that although the 1950s represent a time in which the Women’s Movement began, the era still had a strong patriarchal society because of its’ powerful influence through the media, work, and education. The major primary sources that I used are unique. They include advertisements and a newspaper article geared towards women at the time. When discussing the advertisements that I used in my paper, I was able to interpret them and conclude how the message that was being portrayed to women was a way of restricting women. When looking at the newspaper article, I discovered a section that was solely dedicated to women with the category title being “Women Wanted”. Here I discovered that these jobs that were listed under this category were domestic jobs or clerical jobs of some type. The reason for its significance is that, as stated before, while the 50s was an important time and the beginning of the Women’s Movement, there must be an understanding as to why it occurred and for that fact that these restrictions were still prevalent. Understanding this small amount of time of Women’s History can open more doors of understanding and comprehension unlike before.
The Patriarchal Society in 1950s America
Ponderosa Room C
The topic that I will be discussing at the No Limits conference deals with how the patriarchal society affected women and their lives in 1950s America. In my paper, I discussed and wrote about how society restricted women in three different aspects: the media, work, and education. Not only did these aspects restrict women, but also, they influenced how a woman would go about her life and told women how they should act and be. Several key historians were used in my paper. They include the following: Caroline Bird, Lisa Lindquist Dorr, Tracey Kim Hoover, J.A. Jacobs, Andrea Press, Linda Van Ingen, and Susan Ware. These historians explored all the areas I will be discussing and concluded the ways of how these aspects of the 1950s influenced the restriction on women. My argument and thesis is that although the 1950s represent a time in which the Women’s Movement began, the era still had a strong patriarchal society because of its’ powerful influence through the media, work, and education. The major primary sources that I used are unique. They include advertisements and a newspaper article geared towards women at the time. When discussing the advertisements that I used in my paper, I was able to interpret them and conclude how the message that was being portrayed to women was a way of restricting women. When looking at the newspaper article, I discovered a section that was solely dedicated to women with the category title being “Women Wanted”. Here I discovered that these jobs that were listed under this category were domestic jobs or clerical jobs of some type. The reason for its significance is that, as stated before, while the 50s was an important time and the beginning of the Women’s Movement, there must be an understanding as to why it occurred and for that fact that these restrictions were still prevalent. Understanding this small amount of time of Women’s History can open more doors of understanding and comprehension unlike before.
Presenter Bio
I am a Social Sciences Education 7-12 major with the a minor in Womens and Gender Studies at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. My future plans after graduating UNK are to pursue a teaching job in a high school where I would be teaching any class in the Social Sciences area while also having the opportunity to introduce and teach an Intro to Women and Gender Studies class to the future high school I will be teaching at. A fun fact about me is that I had the opportunity to play college soccer at Central Community College in Columbus and I am the Kearney High School's Head JV coach for the girl's soccer team!