THE AMERICAN WOMAN IN THE 20th CENTURY

[Music] united war a reality the american woman must once again observe the classic ritual of farewell war is once more to bring a tremendous change because of it woman's role in american society will never be quite the same but now for her war marks only the beginning of four lonely years some choose not to stay at home having proved their worth in world war one will demand and receive uniforms of their own waves wax lady marines more than 200 000 sign up for the duration and trade their own cooking for the gi variety the peacetime problem of not having a thing to wear is solved the recruit learns to wear what others wear to call her superior as man to live without privacy and for her the war and her place in it is very real [Applause] [Music] neither amazon's no butterflies says colonel hobby of her wax they are women and they will learn to be soldiers in the fall of 1942 the first units of american women are shipped over their role to relieve men for combat before the fighting has ended more than 25 000 will have served in every war zone on earth from piccadilly to chunking casablanca to atu another woman follows the troops the hollywood glamour girl entertaining the boys on the foxhole circuit carol landis is a gi favorite as his oomph girl ann sheridan on islands deserts and beach heads they provide precious moments of warmth and forgetfulness a kiss from lana turner is worth a stripe betty grebel's a pinup come true and rita hayworth almost makes the war worthwhile but those at home hollywood breeds a bizarre concoction called the war musical [Music] in the reality of the factory the shorts of the hollywood corines give wakes of rosie the riveter and her bandanna becomes the symbol of the home front women are employed as never before more than 19 million at the war's peak around the clock they tend production lines earning ease for excellence and proving once and for all that men's jobs can be women's work for many their husbands already in service children pose a special problem the answer a generation for whom the day nursery in the place the family's backyard for the american housewife war is a complication of rationing and regulations she faces daily shortages juggles red and blue ration stamps for sugar meat and coffee substitutes or does without [Music] shopping trips are an adventure in frustration and she must always stand in line for everything worth buying there are rare occasions when women are only too happy to stand in line for an item they consider far more important than beefsteak [Music] to some women war brings the excitement of usos and servicemen's canteens for them it is a time of urgency of homesick men always on the move of passing relationships [Music] [Applause] but for most it is a time of loneliness never before have american women been so long without their men have time and distance so far removed the sons the brothers the husbands of a nation never have the houses of the land so echoed the silence of their voices every day a fresh reminder of her divided life the awareness that only a fragile female letter links her with all she holds dear war stretches on endlessly the streets are pruned of men and the american woman waits [Music] he's back he's the victor the man from guadalcanal anzio omaha beach later gulf nightmare of war and separation is over long years of fearful waiting of effort [Music] [Applause] with world war ii over the united states plunges into a frantic race for normalcy and houses come first windows or walls and a roof almost any kind of roof is acceptable to ex-gis hungry for the pleasures of home and family they're cramped but carefree and rightly optimistic about the future long before the term togetherness comes into vogue young couples learn its meaning whether they like it or not in one long stride they try to make up for lost time by going to college planning a career and raising a family all at once in 1946 their most conspicuous success is achieved in terms of raising a family more than three million times in the next two years delighted young couples announced the arrival of junior or junior miss a kitchen revolution follows on the heels of the baby boom a push-button world surrounds the american housewife and after the hardships of war and depression she wants nothing more than to take her ease in the comfortable cocoon called home sitting before the flickering tv screen the american housewife becomes the most prolific consumer in history a special target for 75 percent of all television advertising she looks she listens and she buys particularly when the product promises the elixir of beauty the eternal glow of youth and as always on tv tube and motion picture screen hollywood creates the needed image the spectrum of desirability to which she aspires [Music] upwards of a billion dollars a year pours from the american purse in search of a lower in the affluent society a luxury has become a necessity beauty has become big business from main street to fifth avenue the american woman can select from 140 000 salons her house of beauty where amid varying degrees of luxury she will be petted primped and pampered women must feel wanted and appreciated says the head of the leading cosmetics firm they crave little detentions it is in this area that the beauty salon he adds properly presented can offer an important psychological bonus to women today the commercial world of beauty can provide even the luxury of an individual makeup created by an artist like francois we say in french you don't foreign french no well i will tell you in english and the effect of a soul cannot be curious but the effect of a face if you correct it can perfect the soul you see what i mean the american woman emancipated by law technology education and custom from teenager to matron she searches for a direction a goal in life the teenager at 13 the modern adolescent owns a private phone at 14 a bikini at 15 her hair is tinted and at 16 she gets a car her outlook is finish high school then enter college or go to work whichever course she chooses chances are at 20 she'll be married the career girl an identity to which 20 million american women cling hopefully as a means to prove their independence in terms of education she is the equal of most men yet her salary and status are lower by 25 to be successful wrote a career woman we have to be twice as ambitious three times as smart as any man and a darn side more thick skin despite the hurdles women like novelist mary mccarthy have succeeded because they possess the talent and determination pilot and adventurous jacqueline cochran holds records envied by men margaret burke white is a top news photographer and reporter [Music] one of the most popular concert artists of all time is soprano marion anderson and in 1963 dr maria mayer wins the nobel prize in physics playwright and author jean kerr has a hit play a best-selling book and four sons to her credit on the other hand a far greater number of women wistfully admit i have only one talent motherhood and all it earns for me is a round trip from soaps to vegetables with her college degree she vaguely hopes for a career after her children are grown but meanwhile she earns a doctorate in slides swings and jungle gyms when she finally has the time the american woman often lacks the inclination the internal drive to start a new career statistically she can look forward to outliving her husband by seven years seven forlorn and lonely years [Music] from teenager to matron today's women face a wide cross section of problems she is nagged by questions should she choose marriage or career can she have both is she man's equal and should she want to be there are many answers and no panaceas when asked what's wrong with the american woman today a group of prominent women offer a wide variety of answers virginia steele senior editor of mccall's magazine there's no question in my mind that the american woman is terribly confused with her role in society today and i think that at the root of the problem is the fact that we have stripped away the pride of the american man eugenia shepard fashion editor of the new york harold tribune most of the women i know are functioning quite effectively and certainly without any kind of desperation in fact i believe that women's new status if you want to call it that has brought more emotional confusion to men than it has to women themselves dorothy kilgallon nationally syndicated newspaper columnist women have made great progress since the beginning of this century and i think that's fine but it's still a man's world and i think that's fine too after all women are the mothers of men the wives the lovers the friends and sisters of men and i can't think of a more exciting role i hope it'll be this way a thousand years from now i think we ought to relax and enjoy it arya manus freelance writer and social critic if men and women are confused and troubled about themselves today i don't think it's because of the so-called emancipation of women it's rather that they don't really understand or accept the sexual revolution or i should say the non-sexual revolution this is simply that a woman is first and foremost a separate human being before she is a wife and mother just as men have always had a separate identity aside from being husband and father now i know that most women want no life beyond home and family but a growing number of women do and they should have the freedom to choose their destiny without social pressures that force them into traditional roles jill saint john hollywood actress to me the confusion of the american career woman stems partially from having to place everything other than her career in a secondary light they're not sure whether to function as a woman in a man's world or a man in a man's world i see no immediate solution unless she can develop a new set of standards that will allow her to compete fairly in a masculine society helen gurley-brown author of the best-selling book sex and the single girl i think we should stop separating the girls from the boys and saying that girls are so confused and we don't know who we are i think women are in very good shape the best shape we've ever been in everyone has problems of course and conflicts and perhaps too much to do every day but it doesn't have anything to do with being a woman i wouldn't be anything else betty friedan author of the feminine mystique i think there's a terrible contempt for women still in our society implicit in this glorified image of woman only as a sex object implicit in this uh glorified insistence that woman's fulfillment is motherhood and only motherhood cows can have babies but women have minds as well as breasts and well as well as sexual organs and women are made to feel guilty if they really use their minds we don't know we don't know you know we really don't know what women can do what women can be problems are a long way off they will come be sure and soon enough so play your little children's games and drink now the joy of golden days they are part of the last generation of american women to mature in the 20th century only one prediction for their future can safely be made whatever mold their mothers have created for them they will shatter years ago queen victoria set the standard for an age now in a special way jacqueline kennedy sets the standard for american women in the 1960s she is a woman a mother and at the same time an independent and unique individual she is admired by the world for her beauty a poise a grace and in the face of tragedy her courage a journalist once wrote jacqueline kennedy typifies that which is best in the american woman of the 20th [Music] century the american woman her complex course through this century brought her new power new responsibility new problems she prides herself on being modern the woman of the moment yet she retains the essence of classic womanhood wrote poet robert graves as you are a woman be lovely as you are lovely be various and a woman is many things she's the innocence of a child little girl charm mingled with delight at knowing herself feminine she is a girl suddenly grown to the rich full bloom of life suddenly a woman therefore to be wooed wrote shakespeare she is a woman therefore to be one [Music] she is a mother fulfilled by a joy unknown to man the joy that comes from giving life here all love begins [Music] she is a wife a woman and for all the poet's verses two words describe her best indefinable and indispensable so so so [Applause] [Applause] [Music] you