Rosies Gone? Where Have All

¶ … Rosies Gone?

Where Have All the Rosie's Gone?

The era since the end of World War II has seen many social changes, especially in the traditional roles of men and women. Many were shocked when Betty Frieden penned her famous 1957 article, later turned book that expressed discontent with the roles that society had forced on women in the post-war era (Davidson and Lytle, p. 346). The following will explore the sexual revolution of the 1950s and how the media fought fervently to eradicate this new emerging role model for American Women.

Muscles and Might

One could say that the first era of the sexual revolution was literally forced upon society. When the U.S. entered World War II, it sapped a major portion of the workforce from manufacturing jobs (Davidson and Lytle, p. 350). Men were off to war and work stations were abandoned. The first to be absorbed were unemployed men (Davidson and Lytle, P. 350). There was still a desire to maintain the status quo as far as male and female roles were concerned. The women's place was at home, tending the children. The men's place was working to provide for them. The first attempts to fill the gaps left from the war did so in a way that maintained traditional role models.

However, it was not long before managers realized that they still were not able to fill a major gap in manufacturing positions. Out of necessity, rather than a true recognition of the abilities of women, they began to turn to an untapped resource, married women, to fill the positions (Davidson and Lytle, p. 351). The war generated a need to increase manufacturing to meet the needs of the war efforts. The powers that be decided that this simply would not be possible without upsetting the apple cart and allowing women to assume jobs that had been traditionally relegate to men. Rosie the riveter was born and millions of women answered the patriotic call of their country (Davidson and Lytle, p. 351).

Popular magazines, such as Saturday Evening Post and posters were used to promote the new role for American women (Davidson and Lytle, P. 351). Women were suddenly thrust into a world that was unfamiliar to them. This was a place that neither their mothers, nor their mothers before them had ever been. Images of Rosie promoted a masculine set of muscles, a hardened, yet happy look on her face. The posters exuded confidence and the ability to tackle anything. Rosies began to live up to that image. A new woman emerged in Rosie the riveter, one that was independent, made her own way. Women gained confidence and felt that they could do or accomplish anything. Rosie inadvertently created a new social role for women, one that did not depend on men for their subsistence.

All went well for Rosies and the men for whom they do faithfully toiled. Everything was fine in America during the war years. It seemed as if there was nothing that Americans could not overcome through cooperation. The seeds of equality had been sown and Rosie, in a fit of absentmindedness had begun to forget her place in society. She enjoyed her new found freedom and independence. Then something happened, the war ended and now all of those deserving men came home.

The men returned to a world that had changed since they left. Their demure wives had become strong and independent. All of the jobs were taken. Men returning from the war were heroes and deserved a reward when they got home. They had served their countries well and preserved the American dream. They now must return to the dream that they had fought so hard to preserve. What was society to do, they could not return to unemployment? There was only one acceptable answer; they had to get their old jobs back. This meant that women simply had to return to the home and the life that had become their lot for so many years before the war.

Now the powers that be had to convince women that their place was, once again, in the home. The war led to many advanced that helped to shape the American lifestyle. One of the most important was the advent of the television. This form of media, along with popular magazines such as Redbook, Ladies Home Journal and other such icons, became the perfect tool for putting women back it the home and women back to work (Still Killing Us Softly, Lazarus and Wunderlich, 1987). After the war, women were no longer needed in the workforce; there were plenty of men to go around. Women who continued to choose to work outside of the home were no longer rewarded with competitive wages and a sense of importance. They were once again reduced to menial tasks with wages considerably lower than their male counterparts (Davidson and Lytle, p. 353).

There were laws in place that demanded equal jobs for equal pay, but employers found ways around them (Davidson and Lytle, p, 353). Women had less incentive to work because they would have to put in the same hours as men, but would receive only a fraction of the pay. It simply was not economically feasible for them to work anymore. Women were told that they were needed in the home. Many of the social problems of the post-war era were blamed on women being out of the home. However, it can be argued that women out of the home were not the reason for the social decline, but her war itself that was to blame (Davidson and Lytle, p. 353).

The war caused tragic losses of lives. It left many children to grow up without a father, often with economic hardship. Economic hardship was a result of the inability of their mother to find a socially acceptable job outside the home that paid enough to make ends meet. Rosie had been dethroned and replaced with June Cleaver. The media had to convince women that the accepted social status for them was only temporary and due to the circumstances Davidson and Lytle, (p. 353).

They needed new role models and shows such as the bungling wife in "I Love Lucy" provided just the perfect image. Women in the media during the 1950s were portrayed as incompetent. They could no longer learn to do anything that a man could do. One of the best examples is Margaret in Father Knows Best, who could barely get her car out of the garage without the help of a man. Women had been reduced in status to their former subservience. They had more important things to do during the day than worry about careers and independence, they had to keep their houses spotless and spend all of that time making sure that the cake was iced before the man came home...all while wearing high heels one might add. Women were expected to cheerfully accept their new role without resistance or complaint.

Betty Frieden showed America that not all women had humbly accepted their reduction in status. The spotless perfection that was the woman of the 1950s was soon replaced by images of the super-skinny, such as Twiggy. Betty Frieden followers morphed into bra-burning Jane Fonda types. By the middle of the 1960s America had developed a bipolar personality regarding women. One extreme fought for equality and enforced the 1964 Civil Rights act. The other sought to desperately hold onto the sublime perfectionism of the 1950s. What resulted from these conflicting ideals was The Brady Bunch. This era was marked by conflicting ideals. The "generation gap" grew larger and some argued that the very fabric of American society that revolved around the family was beginning to melt away. It was being replaced by a new model that emphasized self-expression and a very different set of values.

The key argument about how the social changes progressed from Rosie to Jane Fonda is whether they were simply a reflection of societal changes, or whether they were a direct attempt to control the direction that society would take using the mass media as their tool (Davidson and Lytle, p. 358). It is easy to look at the role models in media and decide that media shaped society. However, media is not the most important factor in the shaping of the child. A child is shaped by many factors such as their parents, teachers, religious leader, and peers. All of these influences combine to inform her about how she should act and feel towards her world. Psychologists now feel that modeling plays a more important role in shaping the future adult than a third party on the television screen (Jung and Lennon, 2003). Television may play a role in their development, but only if this image is reinforced in the world around them. They are most influenced by those that they can see and touch in their world.

Conclusions

The social changes and shifts that forced women back into home had a significant impact on how men and women related to one another. Women felt oppressed and men felt the need to take back their pre-war status as head of the household. These dynamics created a power-play between men and women that eventually culminated with the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Men struggled to retain their power, while women struggled to recapture what they had a taste of in the 1940s.