Women During The Cold War Essay

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After World War II ended, the U.S was prospering in a new period of technology, a booming economy, and the expansion of consumerism through innovative mass media. However, as the tensions of the Cold War intensified throughout the decade, anything outside of the norm was seen as controversial and pressures to conform shaped the expectations about the roles of men and women in postwar American society. During the 1950s, GI’s and their newly wed wives were moving out of the city to escape urban decadence and into the suburbs, where acres of mass-produced housing awaited; a new system of construction , influenced by the standardization of building materials, based on what one man could manage to carry, the application of assembly line methods-the …show more content…

Normalcy in such times provided comfort and a sense of structure, but any deviation was shunned. It was at this time when the term “nuclear family” came into use, not simply as a descriptive term, but as a prescriptive term for the family as a stable unit, and just as the atom was deemed foundational for matter, the family was the building block of a strong and proper functioning society. This perspective practically put women in the balance as crucial in their roles as wives and mothers in fighting the “communism.” Women were required to be the constant at the heart of society. She did so by being the cosmic glue, by uniting the family and keeping it together, happy, and healthy. It was essential that she stay at home to accomplish her role and eschew personal goals beyond those defined by her role. The Cold War was also a competition of two very different economic systems, capitalism and communism. As capitalism strived to be seen as more successful, capitalism focused on the trading and selling of goods and services. Consumer culture became a way of waging the Cold War. Women were expected to do most of the shopping, therefore, they were encouraged to be patriotic and dutiful citizens by being savvy shoppers.

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