Gender & Media

Summary of the content – image 1 - Extract taken from: Women in Twentieth Century Britain ‘mothers place in the home’ plate 17.2 – Woman 1937
The document presents initially the image of the perfect housewives; she appears to be perfectly neat and tidy in her attire down to her hair not being out of place.   It depicts her in the image of a home taking care of the children, fulfilling the role of the housewives and mother,   Basow (1992) states that this was how women were generally potrayed in this era. The document is in black and white, which coincides with the date it was published. However, the content describes an altogether different story. Women became advocates for the voice of other women in the areas of political and public life where they had previously been excluded and to some extent discriminated against.
Date of publication and the wider social, economic and political context
The 1930s was a time of great affluence, consumerism and development for some. However, for others, particularly the unemployed, it was a time of hardship and great depression the date of this article is important to note as in this era it was clear that the social roles of women in society were mainly that of the housewives (Basow, 1992). However it was strongly acknowledge that the work the housewives adopted was vital and as important as any other role and that more should be done to support them.
The literature available during this time were magazines such as good housekeeping, women and women’s own, these publications perpetuated the ideas of the housewives and the role of women. The theme of this representation was that from the 1940’s to the 1970’s the feminine ideal was one of a child bearer, to bring up the child and make a home (Franzwa, 1975).
The motive of the author.
The war provided many changes both socially, economically and politically. One such social change was the population of men declining drastically, this was of course because of the death...