Homemaker to Superwomen: The Evolution of Betsy Rath

1060 Words3 Pages

In the 1950’s becoming a wife, having and raising children and taking care of the home was the primary goal for most women. Post war brides were marrying young, having children at significant and unrivaled rates, and settling into roles that would ultimately shape a generation. This ideal notwithstanding, women were entering the workplace like never before and changing the face of American business forever. In the movie The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit directed in 1956 by Nunnally Johnson, we get an inkling of the type of voice American women would develop in the character of Betsy Rath. We are introduced to a wife and mother who leverage her role in the family to direct and influence. The decade of the 50’s signify the beginnings of the duplicity that women would embrace in America, being homemakers and independent women. With the beginnings of the cold war the media and propaganda machine was instrumental in the idea of the nuclear family and how that made America and democracy superior to the “evils” of the Soviet Union and Communism; with this in mind the main goal of the 50’s women was to get married. The women of the time were becoming wives in their late teens and early twenties. Even if a women went to college it was assumed that she was there to meet her future husband. Generally a woman’s economic survival was dependent on men and employment opportunities were minimal. Though the idea becoming a wife and mother was the most common occupation for women in the 1950’s and by no means was it simple. Women experienced immense pressure to act and be a certain way. The conformity of the 1950’s frowned upon things that weren’t apart of the established way of doing things. In the movie The Man in the Gray Flannel S... ... middle of paper ... ...uld be proud. Works Cited (2012). Retrieved from www.divorcerate.org: http://www.divorcerate.org (2012). Retrieved from www.divorce.com: http://www.divorce.com/article/rising-rate-divorce Haddock, V. (2008, March 13). Retrieved from www.alternet.org: http://www.alternet.org/story/79521/ Johnson, N. (Director). (1956). The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit [Motion Picture]. Lynette Fitzgerald. (2011, March 12). Retrieved from www.wcfcourier.com: http://wcfcourier.com/business/columns/a-woman-s-financial-world-in-today-s-society/article_017a3026-f4d4-11e0-8c48-001cc4c03286.html New content 1999-2002 PBS Online. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.pbs.org: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/index.html Women's Employment During the Recovery. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.dol.gov: http://www.dol.gov/_sec/media/reports/femalelaborforce

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