HIST 260 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Endangerment, Miss Canada, Family Values
24 Aug 2016
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Question: What surprised you most from the readings this week?
In the readings this week, I found the most surprising content to be presented in âHome
Dreams: Women & the Suburban Experiment in Canada 1945-1960â by Veronica Strong- Boag.
This article did a unique thing in the fact that while it showed that women were being treated as
inferior, male scholars were boasting that the treatment women were receiving was because of
their superiority. Scholars such as Freud and Dr. Spock reinforced traditional conventions and
roles of women through spouting that although a manâs life was more difďŹcult (page 478,
footnote 31) women had real power through their capacity for motherhood (page 476) and the
freedom to construct their own routines (page 479). Men were too weak to have women
anywhere else than in the home, managing everything else for them, and away from work
where their wages might endanger their fragile masculinity. Using a womenâs suppression as the
source of her power, is equally bafďŹing (if you stop to think about it) and ingenious (from a
marketing standpoint). Were men laughing when they thought that up, or did they honestly
believe that women made the world turn; Women were not fragile creatures that needed taking
care of, it was actually the men? I donât see how males could have possibly thought that in the
given time period, so I tip my hat to their advertising strategies of the âsuperiorâ female lifestyle.
Question: Following the end of the Second World War, what were some of the
transformations in the lives of Canadian women?
Following the Second World War, womenâs lives took on many new aspects, as well as
preserving some from pre-war and the inter-war years. 1969 brought about the reform of the
Criminal Code, legalizing contraception, abortion, and homosexual acts between consenting
adults (Sethna & Hewitt, page 1). Families became bigger, as conditions between 1946 and
1960 made a better lifestyle possible. After the Second World War, there was a massive
increase in the labour force participation of married women. The housing crisis of the 1940âs and
1950âs acted as an opportunity to put women back into the role of a housewife, as the new trend
in thought was that a womenâs ability to take on a variety of roles during the depression and
World Wars was a ďŹuke. Overall, the force of negativity women met when trying to become
employed was signiďŹcantly greater than before.
Question: What were some of the societal expectations of women in the postwar period
and how did these social constructions of gender affect their lives?
Sethna & Hewitt: The article stated how âIronically, the FBI searched for signs of subversion in
the womenâs movement but couldnât recognize what was truly dangerous. While they looked for
Communists and bombs, the womenâs movement was shattering traditional ideas about work,
customs, education, sexuality, and the family. Ultimately, this movement would prove far more
revolutionary than the FBI could ever imagineâ (page 495, footnote 99). Society did not expect
or accept women to be protesting, speaking to such sexual and âvulgarâ ideas. Women at the
time were supposed to keep their opinions to themselves, and accept what happened to them.
By educating themselves on the issue, women were breaking the social constructions of their
gender in order to create a better live for themselves.
Korinekâs paper examined the imagined communities that were construed of the women who
wrote in to the contest, the perfect house wives and the âslobs.â Questions requested information
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
In the readings this week, i found the most surprising content to be presented in home. Dreams: women & the suburban experiment in canada 1945-1960 by veronica strong- boag. This article did a unique thing in the fact that while it showed that women were being treated as inferior, male scholars were boasting that the treatment women were receiving was because of their superiority. Men were too weak to have women anywhere else than in the home, managing everything else for them, and away from work where their wages might endanger their fragile masculinity. Using a women"s suppression as the source of her power, is equally baf ing (if you stop to think about it) and ingenious (from a marketing standpoint). I don"t see how males could have possibly thought that in the given time period, so i tip my hat to their advertising strategies of the superior" female lifestyle.
