Gender Roles In The 1960s

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Gender Roles Throughout the course of history, and in the presence of many works of literature, women are depicted as being the inferior gender. In many novels written before the 21st century, gender roles were more often present than not. In the 1950’s, women were expected to raise the children, tend to the laundry, wash the dishes, and put a meal on the table every night. Men, on the other hand, were the ones who worked for an employee and were the sole financial providers for the family, they were expected to make and enforce the important decisions within the family. With these certain expectations in mind, gender roles were the social norm of the mid-century. ("Preface to 'How Are Gender Roles Changing?")
While evidence of gender roles …show more content…
In the book, In Cold Blood there are many different examples of gender roles in the 1950’s and 1960’s. One such example is found in the very beginning of the book as we are introduced to the character of Bonnie Clutter; a housewife that is struggling with a debilitating, and undiagnosed, form of postpartum depression. When discussing the condition of Mrs. Clutter, the author also provides a brief history of her treatment by saying, “Some years earlier, Mrs. Clutter had traveled to Wichita for two weeks of treatment and stayed two months. On the advice of a doctor, who had thought the experience would aid her to regain ‘a …show more content…
In in second vignette of In Cold Blood, the author described the relationship between the Deweys briefly but informatively, “Their normal life was like this; both worked, Mrs. Dewey as an office secretary, and they divided between them the household chores, taking turns at the stove and the sink.” (Capote 121) Mrs. Dewey was a secretary, and she was just one of the 96% women holding down their job as a secretary in the 1950’s (Huffington,

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