1900s-Today-Future
Women: Rights, expectations, and pressures
Before: First wave Feminism to reach equality through idea of Separate Spheres. Essentially argued for right to vote on the idea that women were “purer” than men, and therefore their opinion was important and would help protect America. However, this also added to the deeply ingrained idea that women and men were not equal and were in fact different. Although first wave feminism did succeed in giving women the equal right to vote, it accentuated the differences that society placed upon women.
Now, women are being more and more recognized as equals to men, although there is still not equality among the sexes. In this sense, women are now being pressured to go against the traditional ideals for women to be modern. Otherwise, they are not living up their roles. This is creating a double standard where women are expected to both be different and the same as men.
Marked by different waves of feminism (first wave, second wave, third wave), the disqualification of gender norms, the movement of women in STEM.
Resistance evident among women who like traditional roles and want to be different from these modern standards. Resistance among women who want to go further, but are still constrained by the idea that they should act a certain way, and not stray too far.
Shift in response to modern views of women and recognition of how similar they are to men.
Conditions available through vocalness of women, women moving higher in their fields, women moving away from home and a decrease in number of “stay-at-home moms.”
Shift to continue? Perhaps shift is not complete (hopefully), and women will eventually not be held to double standards. Future change where women can be just as modern and similar to traditional male norms without judgement, but can also follow the traditional roles of women if they choose. Need a society that does not expect everything from women and act so critically towards them.
I think the shift you are addressing is a really good idea. I think the shift you are addressing raises attention to other factors you may not be considering. In showing the ideological differences between men and women in society, you may want to track the different evolutions of the shift and how they converged into a different shift altogether almost. From what I see, you should that there was once a view that women were supposed to be housewives. As time went on, feminism grew, and people then believed women had a greater societal role, increasing their roles in jobs and other areas of life. As these two issues came together, a whole other shift resulted. The idea that a greater expectation is demanded of women to be both caretakers of the house and have play a role in providing monetarily for a family is important. I think you can find a way to show the way in which this ideas come together! I am excited to see where you go with this idea.