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Factors that Affected Gender Roles after the 20th Century
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Although inconspicuously misogynistic mentalities still create barriers for women to take on male dominated societal roles, drastic changes in gender roles opened doors for myriad of women to succeed educationally, economically, and athletically over the last century. Some of the factors that assisted gender role alterations were the continuation of the heightening industrial revolution in the early 20th century as well as, the circumstances caused by World War II and the ferocious women’s movement in the 60’s and 70’s. Along with these factors, inventive technologies, emergence of media through television, and medical advancements were also contributors in the fluidity of gender roles as we now are part of. Women's diverse gender roles began to emerge with the second industrial revolution in early 20th century. Because there were drastic needs of workers in the factories, women were drawn into these unconventional labors. With the women being able to earn wages out of the home, the role of the mother greatly changed within the home of the industrialized family. It became practically impossible for working mothers to prepare for dinner or do other house work, which left her husband to carry out the task if it wasn’t conflicting with his own work schedule. It was gradually understood that this morphing dynamic in the gender role wasn’t to feminize men but it was purely a matter of response to family circumstances. Consequently and hopefully, this led to modernized view that housework is not gender associated but is gender neutral. Not only did the increase of employment in factories provided many opportunities outside of women’s domestic “sphere”, but also technology growth aided this revolution. To be more specific, the invention of the telegraph and telephone introduced additional job openings to women as telephone operators and clerks (a conventional male dominated profession). As for educated white women, their workplaces included the escalating fields of office work and retail sales as typists, secretaries, and sale clerks.
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