During the 1950s, women were in the most cases depicted as an elegant housewife, always smiling, dressed perfectly all time of the day. Above all, she could manage the roles of a loyal and feminine wife, caring mother, the cook and the maid, what is more women were shown as the queens of domesticity. Moreover, best impression of how media portrayed women we can get from the book “The 1950s” by William H. Young and Nancy K. Young “Throughout the fifties, popular media portrayed American women as possibly the best-dressed housekeepers ever seen.
Explanation :Se.xism in 1950s was, however, normal and both men and women tolerated it. Despite how insulting advertisements were toward the female population, people tolerated it and accepted stereotype of being the housewives. Because of broadly accepted stereotyping and gender bias during the 1950s, as well as idea that a woman should live for her husband and family became a dominant image. Consequently, this led to debates concerning female rights and roles. “Often feminists, due to their biases and personal/political agendas, identify the 1950s as the pinnacle of gender inequality. Furthermore, they claim that mass media especially advertising in women’s magazines perpetuated the denigration of women. According to them, ads during this time period portrayed women as stu.pid, submissive, purely domestic creaturesAdvertisements in the 1950s most commonly were advertising wives as being influenced and controlled by their husbands. Furthermore, Advertisements targeted women, showing them in the kitchen, using feminine products in order to impress their husbands, having a conversation with their children, cleaning or expressing the joy of receiving the latest house appliance so that they can improve their home. Because women had substantial influence on purchasing decisions, advertisers attempted to make it easy for women to relate, so to effectively market and sell their products. Moreover, advertisers emphasized roles of women in the domestic sphere so that they can relate more to them..
