U.S. History 1877-Present 10.9: Changing Gender Roles

yep the suburbs were for real. those cookie cutter houses were spreading like [model home pictured]

butter. they became home to more than just moms and dads and kids. the

middle-class suburban home became a fantasy Kingdom where the modern world

went out the window. there weren't any dragons in this

fantasy Kingdom which is kind of lame but there were kings. it's true within

ply wood panelled walls of suburbia men were kings. they were fathers who knew

best. children were all important little princes and princesses whose needs were [man reads his paper]

satisfied. and then there were the women of the land of Suburbia. they were a

weird kind of cross between Queens, mothers who were to be treasured for the

care they provided their children, and serfs .people in aprons whose only

purpose in life was to serve others. this was a very new identity for American [man with crown smiles, woman frowns]

women because they were used to work. female workers even dominated some

industries like textiles. during World War two millions of women had been

recruited to work in factories and been told that women had always been part of

any American fight .however as the Cold War began women were told they had a new [woman shows muscles]

role to play in America's new war, wife and mother. without women competing with

them for jobs men could more easily bring home the bacon for the whole

family, and the US would have a strong Society where families were well

provided for by men and well cared for by a new race of super moms, and a lot of [man and kids smile in front of house]

women were totally cool with all this let's face. it working in the World War

two factories probably wasn't all that fun. compared to working on an assembly

line all day a life spent in sunny suburban homes with fun new appliances

probably seemed pretty sweet. however as the 50s wore on the whole suburban mom [woman stands in 50s kitchen]

thing lost its charm for some. according to feminists

such as betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem women were more limited in every part of

the public and private lives than they been back in the 40s.

there weren't bars on suburban windows but well still it was getting a little

creepy. Well, by the end of the decade some women began to publicly challenge [man with crown keeps woman behind bars]

what they viewed as a crisis of feminine passivity. they made it their mission to

remind all women that fulfillment didn't come from buying shiny new appliances or

from getting whites their whites.t women they said needed to shed the complacency

that post-war consumer culture had encouraged in order to gain freedom [feminist Freidan shown]

equality and satisfaction beyond the suburb. of course some people weren't

into the feminist movement of late 50s and early 60s some feared that by

encouraging women to pursue careers outside of the home feminists threatened

to dismantle the very foundation of the traditional family structure. these crazy

feminists were like wicked witches threatening to destroy the magical land [ woman wears witches' hat]

of suburbia forever. well actually if a feminists eventually

gained a lot of ground expanding opportunities for American women, and

instead of crumbling into the sea suburbia expanded too. which would seem to

prove that ultimately working mothers were at least a part of what the magical

land of suburbia needed to increase its sprawl. only those modern moms could [men in lab coats draw equation on white board]

figure out how to summon dragons, boom. then all would be complete.