The film (All in the Family-episode 11) is a true embodiment of what was happening in 1970’s as far as women’ roles in homes are concerned. The 1970’s sexism has been clearly defined by Episode 11 of the film. The stories discussed in the films concerns the women liberation. Moreover, in the film, we are introduced to the two woman (Gloria and Edith) doing their house chores. Later, the man (Bunkers) interrupts and seem to dictate what is to be done. As the daughter says of her dad, he calls him a ruler, a master, and the likes.
In the film, Gloria challenges Bunkers about giving the women an opportunity to realize their potential. The rude response from Mike is that he says that he does not appreciate women “opening their loud mouth.” This is a vivid picture that women were not respected and were not given the opportunity to express their feelings. In fact, Gloria continues to say that the two men do not own her and her mother. She is an example of those women who were trying to fight for their rights. Gloria seems to be upset that her husband is educated yet he does not respect her.
The topic of equality is well discussed in the film. The two argues about the inferiority of the women. The man believes that women are weak by nature, needful, and failure. The man tries to make the Gloria understand that women are weak and should submit. Moreover, she refutes that is not a sex object. His husband is educated while she is not. It seems that women do not to be educated. She tries to tell her husband that men and women are created equally and are as free as men.
The fact that the two people discuss the women’s issues is clear indication that discrimination against women was a common thing in 1970’s, unlike today. Therefore, the film is relevant in its time and depict the situation that occurred. Such issues are not common in the modern TV shows. The humorous aspect of the film does not distract the conveyance of the message. The issues of women discriminations are vivid in the film. The main message remains clear that women were discriminated and were not given equal chances to exercise their freedom and potential like men. Some jobs are believed to be for men (Acker, 2006). Even the married women, they could not enjoy the marriage as an equal partner.
The episode is different from the modern TV shows. In the modern TV shows, women are depicted as white color workers and having almost an equal “say” in the house. The modern films depict women as people who are concerned about career and education.
Unlike in the “All in the Family” where Mike is concerned with getting good grades while his wife stays at home and do the home chores. Evidently, some essence of gender equality can be seen in the modern films. However, even in the modern shows, there is some small antagonism between the role of women and men in marriages. Hence, it is true to say that the attitude towards women roles in society has changed. But, it has not changed fully. “Trends in attitudes toward women’s work and family roles may or may not be linear” (Donnelly, et al., 2016). A substantial but not enough change can be seen on the issue of gender equality. However, more attitudinal change on women by men need to change further for the best. For this reason, some institution like EU has been dealing with the issue (Breitenbach, et al., 2016)
All things considered, gender equality remains to be the major topic of discussion. Apparently, even today, the topic is still an issue. Many people believe that women are not equal as men. It is every woman’s dream that one day they shall be treated with equality in careers, education, and even in marriages. Now, the big question is, are women equal with men?
References
All in the Family S1 E11 – Gloria Discovers Women’s Lib – Video Dailymotion. (2017). Dailymotion. Retrieved 19 May 2017,
Acker, J. (2006). Inequality regimes gender, class, and race in organizations. Gender & society, 20(4), 441-464.
Breitenbach, E., Brown, A., Mackay, F., & Webb, J. (Eds.). (2016). The Changing Politics of Gender Equality. Springer.
Donnelly, K., Twenge, J. M., Clark, M. A., Shaikh, S. K., Beiler-May, A., & Carter, N. T. (2016). Attitudes toward women’s work and family roles in the United States, 1976–2013. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 40(1), 41-54.