Feminism In 'Where The Girls Are' By Susan Douglas
Amanda Niedermaier
ENG-1610
A Change For The Better
I was first technically confronted with the concept of “Feminism,” when I was only ten years old. I really had no idea what the “F” word meant, considering how young I was. Looking back, I can now understand. Eleven years ago my parents divorced after fourteen years of marriage. My mother always taught me to be a strong and independent woman. She told me to always strive to reach any goal that I set for myself, and she would always stand behind me on everything I ever did…
I chose to read the book, Where the Girls are by Susan Douglas. I found this whole book interesting, mainly because it was the era that my mother grew up in. She grew up in the 1960s, a time where life was finally turning around for women. In the chapter, Mama Said, she actually talks about how her mother took on a job after her and her brother started going to school. “…nearly 38 percent of women over the age of sixteen had a job. Their median income was only 60 percent of what men made, in part because they were restricted to low-paying jobs…” I personally favor this quote, because it shows the reality that for the first time in their lives, women were able to make choices. They could go to work or school. But just because they were able to make choices in the real world, does not always say the …show more content…
same for home life.
Just because women were now allowed in the working world, did not mean they were not responsible for their chores at home.
They would work during the day and they were still expected to have a meal on the table for their husbands by the time they got home. Like in Douglas’s book, my mother’s parents, my grandparents, too worked once she was in school and able to home by herself. My grandparents actually owned a gas station together. In my mother’s house, it was a little different. She actually did most of the cooking and cleaning because both of her parents worked, and they were not going to come home after a long day of working and do more
work.
My mother pointed out to me, that women had rights outside the home. At home, the women were still responsible for all their daily duties whether they worked all day or not. It was their job to take care of the children, do their daily household chores, and make sure there was a hot meal on the table for her husband when she got home. Home life did not change nearly as much for women as life outside the home did. On top of all womanly duties women were required to do, they still had to answer to their husbands, about everything. Women had some choices, but the husband still had the ultimate decision.
This is where my mother ran into trouble. My mother hated the fact that she always had to answer to her father. When she married my father in 1987, she took advantage of the freedom she had.
ENG-1610
A Change For The Better
I was first technically confronted with the concept of “Feminism,” when I was only ten years old. I really had no idea what the “F” word meant, considering how young I was. Looking back, I can now understand. Eleven years ago my parents divorced after fourteen years of marriage. My mother always taught me to be a strong and independent woman. She told me to always strive to reach any goal that I set for myself, and she would always stand behind me on everything I ever did…
I chose to read the book, Where the Girls are by Susan Douglas. I found this whole book interesting, mainly because it was the era that my mother grew up in. She grew up in the 1960s, a time where life was finally turning around for women. In the chapter, Mama Said, she actually talks about how her mother took on a job after her and her brother started going to school. “…nearly 38 percent of women over the age of sixteen had a job. Their median income was only 60 percent of what men made, in part because they were restricted to low-paying jobs…” I personally favor this quote, because it shows the reality that for the first time in their lives, women were able to make choices. They could go to work or school. But just because they were able to make choices in the real world, does not always say the …show more content…
same for home life.
Just because women were now allowed in the working world, did not mean they were not responsible for their chores at home.
They would work during the day and they were still expected to have a meal on the table for their husbands by the time they got home. Like in Douglas’s book, my mother’s parents, my grandparents, too worked once she was in school and able to home by herself. My grandparents actually owned a gas station together. In my mother’s house, it was a little different. She actually did most of the cooking and cleaning because both of her parents worked, and they were not going to come home after a long day of working and do more
work.
My mother pointed out to me, that women had rights outside the home. At home, the women were still responsible for all their daily duties whether they worked all day or not. It was their job to take care of the children, do their daily household chores, and make sure there was a hot meal on the table for her husband when she got home. Home life did not change nearly as much for women as life outside the home did. On top of all womanly duties women were required to do, they still had to answer to their husbands, about everything. Women had some choices, but the husband still had the ultimate decision.
This is where my mother ran into trouble. My mother hated the fact that she always had to answer to her father. When she married my father in 1987, she took advantage of the freedom she had.