Women and Culture

 This week we learned about culture: beliefs, traditions, ways of thinking, and practices in certain communities. The role of women and their culture has changed drastically throughout the years. We specifically talked about the post-war era and the role women played during the time when the U.S. was fighting communism. One of the articles in the Post Magazine from 1950 was an ad for a cigar company. Both men and women were all dressed up, however the men were the ones standing up towering over the women, looking tough and smoking the cigars, while the women were sitting and laughing together. I also noted that throughout the whole magazine, the women either took on the roles of maids and caretakers or were all dressed up and looked like models. It was interesting that there was no in-between. Although this isn’t specifically about women, another thing I noticed was that everyone in the magazine was white. I don’t think I saw a single person of color. It was very obvious when there was a whole group of people by the pool and all of them were white. As I mentioned in class, one article was a story about a woman working in a dog-shelter and a man walked in. She said to the man, “If you don’t have a wife, you should have a dog. A man needs something to grouse at and kick around.” This is shocking for several reasons that a magazine would openly say this (note it was bolded), but especially that a woman was saying this. I would be less surprised if a man was comparing a woman to a dog, saying how both are just something to play with, but having this come out of a woman’s mouth is insane. 

Therefore, it is evident that there are many cultural changes today surrounding the role of women in the United States compared to back then. While all the women represented in the magazine were either rich models or caretakers, today working middle class women make up a large percentage of the population and there is much more representation for them. Many ads are targeted to a group of people, such as the working class, rather than being catered to men or women (with the exception of gender-specific products). For example, a laptop is advertised for everyone. However, I think if the laptop was around in the post-war era, I think it would only be advertised for men. An argument would be made along the lines of: Why would a woman need a laptop when she is busy cleaning all day. Therefore, luckily, we have made several advancements for women and the role they play in society since the period following World War II.