Women in the Workplace
The McKenzie, Jones and Conklin (MJC) Case Study led to a reflection on the paradigm shift involving women in the workplace. Since television serves as a cultural barometer, often featuring programming that mirrors the values and standards of a society, a retrospective about the roles women have portrayed in the past and currently came to mind. During the 1960s and 1970s we were introduced to : Laura Petrie of The Dick Van Dyke Show, who played a stay-at-home mom; Carol Brady of The Brady Bunch, the stay-at-home mom to a blended family; Julia Baker of Julia, a widow, mom and nurse; Shirley Partridge of The Partridge Family, a widow and performing artist; Edith Bunker of All In the Family, a stay-at-home wife and Florida Evans of Good Times, a working class, wife and mother, who occasionally worked a variety of service-oriented jobs. These female characters represented the culture of the past few decades, in which a majority of women stayed home to raise a family or worked outside the home due to necessity that of being a widow or needing additional finances to supplement the family’s meager income.
There was a noticeable difference in women’s on-air roles during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, a signal of the cultural shift happening in the United States. The article, “Causes And Consequences Of The Increasing Numbers Of Women In The Workforce,” provides the following rationale for the increase of women in the labor force:
• “From 1940-1945, the female labor force grew by 50% and female employment in defense industries grew by 462%” due to the shortage caused by men heading off to fight in World War II. This also shifted cultural attitudes, making it okay for middle class women to work, where previously it had been taboo.
• The feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s pushed for equal rights and liberation for women.
• With the increasing cost of living made it became an economic necessity for women to work to boost the family income.
• The
There was a noticeable difference in women’s on-air roles during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, a signal of the cultural shift happening in the United States. The article, “Causes And Consequences Of The Increasing Numbers Of Women In The Workforce,” provides the following rationale for the increase of women in the labor force:
• “From 1940-1945, the female labor force grew by 50% and female employment in defense industries grew by 462%” due to the shortage caused by men heading off to fight in World War II. This also shifted cultural attitudes, making it okay for middle class women to work, where previously it had been taboo.
• The feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s pushed for equal rights and liberation for women.
• With the increasing cost of living made it became an economic necessity for women to work to boost the family income.
• The