The Obedient Woman as a Product of the Partriarchal Fifties

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject American Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 1, University of Vienna, language: English, abstract: 'Woman ist not born, but made.' - Simone de Beauvoir This paper attempts to present a view of American women in the 1950s. During that time, women were primarily seen as bearers of children and as housekeepers and homemakers. The discrimination against women was at height in the 1950's when women were told to put home and family first because the family was the core of a free society. This message was carried on to the women of that time through the media and the attitudes of the patriarchal society. The main thesis of the paper states that women in the 1950s were constructed by men according to their wishes and perceptions. They were undermined according to the values of the Fifties and one of the most important value of that time was the family unit.