Social Image Of Women In The 1950's: Portrait Of Housewife And Mother

During 1956 there were solid campaigning ads aimed to war women, like the one that has been required for us to watch. This ad was meant to support the re-election of president Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was narrated by a women and she stated the concerns of other women towards the campaign. Apparently the women in the video’s opinions were unscripted, they gave real and thoughtful reasons to why they would vote for Eisenhower. As it turns out they did vote for him at the end at a higher rate than men.

In the video women were mostly portrayed as housewives who could vote. Being portrayed as a housewife was appealing to most men since that was the norm back then.

During the 1950’s most advertisements portrayed women as housewives and as mothers. Others would portray them as clerks, telephone operators, etc. Usually in these ads women work as employees and not as bosses. This was to show that women couldn’t be at a higher status as a man was.

Get quality help now

Dr. Karlyna PhD

Verified writer

Proficient in: 1950S

4.7 (235)

“ Amazing writer! I am really satisfied with her work. An excellent price as well. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Women were also advertised in an appealing way to men. Since women are generally employees, this shows that ads portray a womens job as a means for finding a man. Women appeared in advertisements half-naked and this appealed to men, these images were used for products used by men and of course to get the reader/watcher’s attention. In the video the women were mostly portrayed as housewives who were ready to vote for a president who wanted to make a change.

The video started off with video clips of a housewife taking care of her family.

The narrator then talks about how much the mother influences the family, but also how they play a big role in their kid’s future. The narrator states that the women are the ones who voted for Eisenhower and they are the ones who will probably decide the election. You could tell that some ladies had jobs and others were shopping for there families. There was one lady that was working as a store clerk you can tell she didn’t have a very high status. Another that was buying food for her family, this shows you the role they played at that time.

The fifties was a time when women took over the Politics and had a big impact on the votes. It was a time where you went to school graduated or dropped out. It was a time when cars were a work of art. And this ad portrays all of these things, just like it portrays women as an appealing housewife.