Photo: “Westinghouse Laundromat and Clothes Dryer”
Following the events of World War II, the American household returned to a model that reflected that of the one which existed in the century prior. While this model did not encompass all family units, many households were subject to the new criteria of the “housewife”. The housewife was the position given to the woman of the house, typically the wife. It was her duty to fulfill a role that coincided with the title of “housewife”. This career was one in cooking, cleaning, and caring for the children.
During this time, consumers were given access to new and exciting appliances. These electronic gadgets were to make the housewife’s work much easier and to make her life simpler. Advertisements of the period (The early 1950s) show the way in which these appliances affected the family. Not only did the promotional ads express how they could make ones life easier, they also shed light into the dynamic of the family, and of the role of a housewife.
Upon reading Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique, one discovers her meaning of the phrase, “A problem that has no name”. Friedan’s 1963 non-fiction explained this problem in great detail. The problem was an illusive horizon that could never be reached, and yet was pursued by countless women. This vanishing horizon was the establishment of a role, which left women subordinate (to their male-counterparts) and oppressed; this role was to be called, being feminine.
Advertisers soon caught on to this widespread epidemic of the mind and capitalized on the ideal itself. In this advertisement for Westinghouse, one can easily see how this has been done. As seen in A Public Service Announcement of its time called, “A Word To The Wives”, the role of a housewife was not only to care for her children, it was to care for her home. What is so striking about this ad is that it utilizes this dynamic, by spinning mother’s maternity into a need for a washing machine & dryer combination. In this way the appliances take on a human role, that of a child. In the P.S.A. one also notices how the husband and wife have to work in communion in order to achieve perfect harmony in the home; if they break their respective gender roles, the home is to fall apart. This is seen in “The Word to The Wives” when one of the women leaves her husband at home without her support, left to his own devices. Without the wrangler of the kitchen (the wife), her husband is left in a chaotic environment. It is displayed that the man of the home is to bring in resources and guide his wife in using his money. In the Westinghouse advertisement, one sees this in the way the man has given the appliances to his wife. The ad perpetuates the belief that the housewife is to act as an ambassador of the home, while the husband pulls all the strings and acts as the actual leader of power. Without this relationship, without adherence to these roles, the family will fall apart (or at least that’s what they were led to believe).
This advertisement is a transparent example of the issue women faced, and still face today. The fixation of a static role is detrimental to the evolution of an equality of the sexes. By associating assumptions of titles in the home (which the ad above has done), men and women are left with the prefixes of their name, and nothing more.
