Marginalization of Women During the Cold War Essay -- gender roles, Co

At the height of the common cold War in 1959, Vice chairman Richard M. Nixon visited the Soviet Union to discuss political political theory with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. In what was labeled the kitchen debate, Nixon presented Khrushchev with an American model substructure that highlighted the merits of capitalism to a global audience. But as the politicians entered the Americanized kitchen, Nixon took a gradation further. Instead of keeping the focus on economic systems, the Vice President turned the discourse to the two nations construction of sex roles. While tone at an American dishwasher, Nixon said, This is our newest modelIn America, we like to make lifetime easier for women I think that this attitude towards women is universal. What we want to do, is make life to a greater extent easy for our housewives (teachingamericanhistory.org).While the accessibility of consumer products that reduced labor for homemakers was an achievement of American capitalism, Nixo ns comments promoted a new American vision of the family. The traditional family in Cold War culture, which featured men as breadwinners and women as homemakers, was immediately an important component of the American Dream. By referring to women as housewives, Nixon effectively strengthen the pervasive sentiment that women could not only be homemakers in a financially prosperous capitalist society, but that it was also expected of them. As these expectations became fully engrained into the mainstream, gender roles became increasingly rigid, which discouraged many women from considering professional careers, allow alone pursue them. As the Cold War era prompted Americans to set refuge in the traditional family, women were expected to operate within the exemplar of the home and in resul... ...represented an escape from the uncertainty of the future. But with the rise of a new traditional family in America, complete with strict and separate gender roles, women were denied oppo rtunities in the workplace and forced to embrace the task of homemaker. While Nixon argued in the kitchen debate that American strength rested on each members ability to rise and fall, the marginalization of woman in Cold War culture masterfully highlights the distance between political high-mindedness and reality. Works CitedBooksMay, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound.Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. MoviesThe Home Economics Story.Online ResourcesThe Kitchen Debate. ArticlesStevenson, Adlai E. A direct for Modern Woman.Chambers, Whittaker. Witness.