Women Crossing Traditional Lines in the Workplace Essay -- American Wo

In 1941, the United States of America was hurled into the morass of the second World War as the war machine began to expand with the needs of manpower, weapons, equipment, ships, tanks, airplanes, and personnel carriers. Trying to meet the demand of a two front war, a great deficit of capable workers became evident; the former housewives and others occupying the ‘pink collar’ jobs in the American workplace stepped up and filled the occupations left vacant by men reporting to the call of patriotism volunteering for positions in the Armed Forces of their beleaguered country. As these women, the ‘Rosie the Riveters’ entered the workplace of the factories producing the desperately material to support the war machine, the working woman began modifying the face of the factories and workplaces traditionally reserved for their men folks. When the men and women won the victory on both fronts by 1945, another more subtle and times a loud war of protest erupted back on the home front, the Rosies were not willing to give up their new found freedoms that earning good wages had brought about. During the fifties and the early sixties and even into the seventies the media of television began an understated campaign to move the women of the workforce back into the home with shows like ‘I Love Lucy’ (1951-7), ‘Father Knows Best’ (1954-1960), 'The Donna Reed Show' (1958-66), 'Make Room for Daddy' (1953-64), 'The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show' (1950-58), 'The Jackie Gleason Show' (1952-59), 'The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet' (1952-66), 'The Honeymooners'(1955-56) and ‘Bewitched’ (1964-1972), ‘ The Dick Van Dyke Show’ (1961-66), ‘Green Acres’ (1965-1971), ‘I Dream Of Jeannie ‘ (1965-1970), and ‘Leave It To Beaver’ (1957-1963) . All of th... ...just have not received any of the recognition they have so meritoriously earned throughout the ages. Works Cited Franklin, Benjamin, The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Jared Sparks, editor (Boston: Tappan, Whittemore, and Mason, 1837), Vol. V, p. 162, from â€Å"A Comparison of the Conduct of the Ancient Jews and of the Anti-Federalists in the United States of America.† MacLean, Nancy. The American Women's Movement, 1945-2000 A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. Martin, Molly. Hard-Hatted Women. Seattle: Seal press, 1988. Niemann, Linda & Bertucci, Lina. Railroad Voices. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998. Solomon, James A. Crossing Traditional Lines in the Work Place. Primary Source Analysis, Sevierville: Self, 2013. http://www.aoltv.com/2009/10/27/feature-page-10-1-best-50s-tv-shows/ http://classic-tv.com/60s-shows/