Women and the Myth of Having It All
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Women and the Myth of Having It All The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:37736803 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Women and the Myth of Having It All Caitlin Feeney A Thesis in the Field of History for the Degree of Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies Harvard University November 2017 ! © 2017 Caitlin Rae Feeney ! Abstract This thesis traces the formation and development of the idea of “having it all” from the mid-twentieth century to the present. Drawing on film, television, and magazines, I argue that mass media alternately challenged and reinforced the perceived contradiction between women’s roles as mothers and as workers. At times, the feminist call for equality prevailed and onscreen heroines were portrayed as independent and vocal. At other times, when conservative views grew louder, characters renounced their careers for domesticity. Although both progressive and traditional ideals endured throughout this sixty-year period, the relative influence of each waxed and waned. Based upon the teachings of sociologists during the 1950s, the happy housewife and the more fully realized version of her – the Supermother – remained the motherhood ideal for American women throughout that decade and well into the next. After a decade of increased maternal employment, the Supermother became the Superwoman, who fulfilled all of the requirements of her predecessor, plus a career. As the women’s movement grew, articles and films portrayed women in a more independent light. This push forward for women’s rights led to a pushback, however, and by the 1980s articles warned women of the costs of liberation and encouraged their reappointment to the home; this trend continued into the 1990s. The Great Recession of the late 2000s ushered women back into the workforce and dual-career households increased; women had to do it all, including all of the housework, childcare, and paid work. The examination of cultural ideals and mass media that shaped women’s roles and expectations from the 1950s to ! present day helps explain what “having it all” meant for American women and why many women today are expected to fulfill the roles of both breadwinner and caregiver. ! To my mother, who always told me: “No one can take away your education.” ! "! Table of Contents Dedication……………………………………………………………………………….v Introduction………………………………………………………………………….......1 Chapter by Chapter………………………………………………………………2 Chapter I: Dawn of the Supermother: Stay-at-Home Mothers of the 1950s and 1960s…6 Experts Built the Super Mother…………………………………………………12! ! The Suburban Home as Haven.…………………………………………………17! Self-Help Yourself to Happiness..………………………………………………18! America Loves Lucy..………………………………………………...…………20! The Backwards Bulletin…………………………………………………………28! Chapter II: Rise of the Superwoman: Working Mothers of the 1970s and 1980s………48 ! Supermother I and II.……………………………………………………………64! ! Women Wanted “Moore” Than Motherhood……………………………………66! ! Working Nine to Five……………………………………………………………74! ! Movies, Motherhood, Marriage… and Divorce…………………………………76! ! The Backlash Begins.……………………………………………………………84! ! Rise of the Right…………………………………………………………………90! Chapter III: Super-rich but Unlucky in Love: The Cost of Success in the 1990s and 2000s………………………………………………………………........106 The Great Escape.………………………………………………………………121! The Meaning of “Ms.”…………….……………………………………………129! ! "#! ! The Height of Neoliberalism...…………………………………………………134 ! The Close of the Twentieth Century – Liberté, Égalité, Anxiété………………138! Conclusion: Having It All in the Twenty-First Century..………………………………142 ! The War on Abortion...…………………………………………………………145! Speculative Fiction.………………………………………………………….….154! ! The Luckiest Women...…………………………………………………………156! The Super-rich Can Have It All...………………………………………………159! ! The Myth of Having It All...……………………………………………………162! ! The Pay Gap……………………………………………………………………165! ! The Power Gap…………………………………………………………………167! ! The Labor Gap…………………………………………………………………168! ! Forward March…………………………………………………………………172! Appendix A: Methodology: Cultural Studies.………………………………………….175 Appendix B: The Literature Review……………………………………………………182 ! Maternal Employment.…………………………………………………………183! ! Cultural Ideals of Womanhood…………………………………………………195! ! ! Motherhood Ideals...……………………………………………………198! ! ! Superwoman Ideal……………………………………………………...201! Heroines in the Mass Media……………………………………………………210! ! Sex Roles in the Mass Media..…………………………………………………213 Conclusion..…………………………………………………………………….219! Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………220! !"##! Introduction This thesis examines how media portrayals of women shifted as ideals of motherhood within American society changed from the mid-twentieth century to the present. I believe cultural studies to be the best methodology for a thesis that integrates historical, social, political, media, and gender studies. This interdisciplinary field draws on a broad spectrum of research from history, sociology, psychology, and literature. In this case, I culled through published literature and media archives to construct a nuanced picture of the ideals of womanhood in America throughout the last sixty years. A full explanation of the methodology encompassed in cultural studies is attached as Appendix A. A list of the literature reviewed is attached as Appendix B. I examine why and how women attempt to reinforce, challenge, and balance the seemingly incompatible spheres of public and private life. Both fictional and real women from mass media illustrate these efforts over the past sixty years. Several women who infamously tried to “have it all” – a fulfilling career and a thriving family – are profiled. As it turns out, all of the women profiled are Caucasian. This does not stem from negligence or naïveté. Instead, it reflects a history in which women of color have been excluded from professional and political power. Still, the people, places, and objects historically missing from America’s television screens can teach us a great deal. The lack of racially diverse examples in this thesis reflects past prejudice in mass media, but in no ! $! way intends to perpetuate it. Women of every race have a long way to go to reach pay equity, to possess full reproductive rights, and to eliminate “the second shift.”1 I hope this thesis offers value to all women, regardless of race. I will explore what “having it all” meant for American women by studying how media publications, cultural ideals, and economic conditions shaped women’s roles and expectations. With motivations that ranged from encouraging consumerism, to cementing conservatism, to expanding equality, writers and editors challenged or reinforced the perceived contradiction between women’s roles as mothers and as workers. Heroines occasionally challenged the traditional division between public and private spheres, yet media ultimately encouraged a conventional order in which women could not excel in both the private home and public workplace. Media reinforced what American women came to understand in real life: that women cannot have it all. Chapter by Chapter This thesis is divided by decade. Chapter 1 examines the 1950s and 1960s. It begins with charting how marriage expectations and the polarization of private home and public workplace set the stage for later decades. Marriage was the lynchpin around which the 1950s woman built her life. The goal was to find a steady breadwinner, to create a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1 In her 1989 book The Second Shift, Arlie Hochschild explains that wives and mothers work a “second shift” of household responsibilities in addition to working a paid job. Hochschild calculated that “women worked roughly fifteen hours longer each week than men. Over a year, they worked an extra month of twenty-four-hour days a year.” Hochschild concludes: “Most women without children spend much more time than men on housework; with children, they devote more time to both housework and child care. Just as there is a wage gap between men and women in the workplace, there is a “leisure gap” between them at home. Most women work one shift at the office or factory and a ‘second shift’ at home.” Arlie Hochschild, The Second Shift (New York: Avon Books, 1989), 3-4. ! %! haven-like home, and to maintain a perfect nuclear family. I examine how: (1) popular media of the fifties and sixties reinforced cultural expectations of the happy housewife; and (2) experts like Dr. Benjamin Spock urged unhappy women to turn a critical eye on themselves, not social pressures. Dr. Spock advised women to cater to children and to mold their lives around husbands’ needs, desires, and schedules. Continuing with I Love Lucy, I review how television reflected the domestic dogma of the Cold War era, which idealized gender distinctions and the wife’s supporting role. Next, I inspect how Ladies’ Home Journal reinforced the division between public and private spheres by teaching female readers their purpose was to guide “the social and cultural life of the family.”2 While women of the 1950s rarely bucked expectations, the growing popularity of the Feminine Mystique during the 1960s awakened women to the “problem that has no name” and spurred them