Private and public spheres

Is it a man’s world?

-> To what extent did gender roles start

evolving in the 50s and 60s?
 1. How are men and women represented?
2. What does it suggest about their respective roles?
 1. How are men and women represented?
➢ The woman is doing the housework while the man is relaxing /
reading the newspaper / smoking. The woman is vacuuming
and she is also wearing an apron which suggests she might
also be cooking. She is reading as well, but she is doing her
household chores at the same time while the man is having a
rest. This document suggests that women in the 1950s were
responsible for looking after the house and the household
chores, whereas men didn’t take part in them. They may have
had jobs outside of the house.
2. What does it suggest about their respective roles
➢ In the 50s, women did all of the housework, whereas today
chores are shared more equally between husband and wife. In
terms of clothing, women in the 50s mostly only wore dresses
whereas they have much more freedom today. Women were
mainly confined to their house while today most of them have a
career outside of their family.
 Gender roles or stereotypes?

Brainstorming about the concepts

Still from Mona Lisa Smile, by Mike Newell (2003)

 GENDER ROLE:
the public image of being a particular gender that a person presents to others
ex: conventional notions of female gender roles

GENDER:
1. either the male or female division of a species, especially as differentiated by
social and cultural roles and behavior (-> sex)

ex: the feminine gender

1. a similar category of human beings that is outside the male/female binary

classification and is based on the individual's personal awareness or identity

ex: third gender (neither man nor woman / social category present in societies
that recognize three or more genders)

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/gender#:~:text=either%20the%20male%20or%20female,1
List as many differences as you can between
life in the 50s and today.
Children in the 1950s had very different lives to young
people today. Most left school much earlier, with many
starting work at 14, and far fewer people had the chance
to go on to further education.

The after-effects of the Second World War were still

ongoing, for instance many goods were still being
rationed in the early 1950s. Sugar was rationed until 1953
in the UK and meat only came off ration a year later.

https://www.mylearning.org/stories/family-life-in-the-1950s/204
 BRAINSTORMING

What roles did men and women traditionally hold in the 50s?
Would you say things have changed?
How different are gender roles now?

NOWADAYS vs BACK IN THE DAYS

In the 1950s, men usually worked to earn money while women
stayed at home to take care of the house and the children.
Things have changed, since most women these days work as
well and household chores are more or less shared. Women
are no longer the only ones responsible for the education of
their children.