Category Archives: Week 5: Cold War Society

A small handful of people in human history have had their ideas spread over the world with their last name attached — Machiavelli and Stalin jump to mind. These men are not merely the dimensions of their bodies, they are the projections of their minds upon society. Senator Joseph McCarthy is entrenched in 1950’s historyContinue reading “Week 5: Women? In MY workforce? It’s more likely than you think”

During the 1950s, anti-communists picked, pointed out, and exaggerated differences between the United States and the Soviet Union/communist nations. In the book chapter “Manly Men and the Little Women” by Mary Brennan, Brennan speaks on how US anti-communists would contrast their idea of soviet women to American ones. Because Soviet women were part of theContinue reading “Ideal 1950s American Women”

            The idea of domestic containment centers on a woman’s role in maintaining the household and rearing children. As the Cold War gave way to anticommunism in the 1950s, domestic containment rose in popularity across America. Where men fought against communism outside of the home, women did their part inside the home. It was arguedContinue reading ““Behind Every Successful Man, There is a Woman”?”

During the 1950s, the idea of domestic containment gained adherents due to several factors, including the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War. With the threat of communism, many Americans wanted to strengthen their national identity and promote traditional values to counter the perceived communist threat. The gendered beliefs ofContinue reading “Girl Power?”

In the midst of the Red Scare in the 1950s, there were many topics that were considered questionable. Of these topics were communists, people who were gay, and those who did not conform to the nuclear family standard. Men were to be the head of the household and women were to be the caretaker. WomenContinue reading “Gender Norm Breaking”

Due to the threat of communism, the pressure to conform to traditional ideals was high in the 1950s. This was illustrated with the importance placed on domesticity and the idea of the “female homemaker.” Domestic life and the nuclear family were considered the “American way of life,” in direct contrast with the communist system (Brennan).Continue reading “Wait, women have their own opinions?”

Domestic containment gained adherents during the 1950s to establish what a proper democratic, capitalist American society was meant to look like during the Cold War. To combat the communist way of life, the true “American” way of life was domesticated around the country and centered around the female homemaker with a traditional nuclear family. WomenContinue reading “The little woman”

In the 1950s and 1960s the idea of the nuclear family and the female being the homemaker was emphasized. During the war, women entered the workforce and took over the roles that were male dominated. However after the war ended, men wanted women to go back to the household. For many women, being a housewifeContinue reading “Blog Post”

The cold war era had been marked in the United States as a period of social turmoil. The main social issues were highly centered around gender roles and mainly women’s roles. The role of American women post-war era was incredibly critical and controversial.  The idea of “domestic containment”, derived from the containment policy under theContinue reading “American Women: Cold War era”

As a society, we hear that women belong in the kitchen and at home a lot. Women tend to be underpaid compared to men that work in the same field and even in the same position. Has sexism progressed through time, and has it gotten better? Yeah, some. Today, there are still many who stillContinue reading “Breaking the Sterotype”