04/20/11

Feminism: Women and the Kitcen

 

The Kitchen Debate by Nixon and Khrushchev in 1959 has embraced many American ideologies at that time, and the role of women in the kitchen is one of them. In the 1950s, it was widely conceived that women ought to spend most of her time in the kitchen and doing various house works. Although Vice President Nixon did not explicit stated it, he has implied that the electronic appliances were so great that they are the equivalent of a woman. The Kitchen Debate further emphasized the fact that most American men at that time regarded their spouses as mere appliances in the kitchen instead of human beings. I believe that the underlying theme in the Kitchen Debate has a certain degree of influence on Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, a publication that has awakened the public feminist consciousness.

With the influence from The Feminine Mystique, American women have realized that, by tradition, they have been enslaved in the kitchen. In addition, they were more conscious of the unequal treatments they faced in work forces. With this new consciousness in their minds, they have pushed for more reforms in civil rights movements. In response to the changes in public opinions, the government has passed various gender equality laws, such as the Equal Pay Act in 1963, which prohibited different wage standards base on genders, and The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which eliminated discrimination by both gender and race.

04/11/11

I’m Not A Crook, I’m A Bowler

During the Golden Age of Capitalism in America even the President enjoyed some leisure time.  At the end of WWII the standards of living was up, unemployment was low and the American GNP more than doubled.  The population boomed leading  suburban living to become the norm.  Jack Straus, the chairman of the board of Macy’s,  declared “Our ability to consume is endless.  The luxuries of today are the necessities of tomorrow.”  This became the thinking of the time.  Citizens lavished in the new life style of ease that a growing economy could now provide for the average, working, middle class person.

04/10/11

Did we run out of kitchens?

This seems to be an old video of the historic “Kitchen Debates” between Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev. The debates signaled a slight change in sentiment towards the Soviet Union as well as the Soviet’s politics both domestically and internationally. A few people, including President Eisenhower voiced their opinions about the massive build up of missiles and defenses. Furthermore, after the Soviets successfully tested their hydrogen bomb people became nervous. However in 1958 the two nations stopped testing nuclear weapons as per an agreement. They began to seek “peaceful coexistence.”