The way women are portrayed in films has changed drastically since the 1930s, and I argue that these changes have come about due to the United States’ social movements. There is a lag between the time the movement happens, and when the movie industry incorporates these changes into movies. Women become more realistically represented, but the narrative has shifted from stories told through men’s eyes to stories told through the eyes of women. Erigha (2015) notes how, in the earlier days of film (the 1930s-1960s), women played prominent roles in movies and were told through the eyes of white men. In the 1960-1975 time frame, we see much larger numbers of women having jobs and careers. However, these jobs are stereotypical jobs for women, such as waitresses, tutors, and nannies, which emphasizes women’s stereotypes as caretakers and does not help women break out of their stereotypical roles. As Ezzedeen (2014) researches, women’s negative stereotypes have attached to them that Hollywood portrays and emphasizes. These stereotype threats undermine women’s career aspirations and contribute to the persistence of the glass ceiling. The balance between work and family is a huge factor when it comes to women and careers, but as we see with the 1990-2005 examples “As Good as it Gets” and “Erin Brockovich,”; women are more than capable of handling both, and in most of those examples the women are single mothers. Earlier than this, in the 1960-1975 period, with the example “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” we see single mothers put their dreams aside to work jobs they do not like to provide for their children.
The historical events that I argue had the most significant impact on women’s portrayal in Hollywood films are World War I, The Great Depression, The New Deal, the invention and access to birth control, the National Organization for Women’s creation the introduction to Title IX. World War I gave women the first taste of the workforce; due to the men going off to war and society having to allow women to have jobs traditionally considered for men. Once the men returned from the war, women were expected to take their places back in the home. The Great Depression caused record unemployment, and women who did have jobs were the first to go. Men were prioritized because they were typically the ones who had jobs, and employers did not have to worry about women getting pregnant and leaving the job. With Roosevelt inventing and passing the New Dead, women were given more of an opportunity to join the workforce, but employers favored men. The invention of birth control was a huge step for women who wanted to have careers because they could prevent having children and have a career for an extended time. Although it was not until 1970 that unmarried women were given the ability to access birth control and obtain it independently. In 1966 The National Organization for Women was invented and finally gave women a voice in a formal way. Moreover, the introduction of Title IX in 1972 gave women an equal opportunity to attend college and, with that, be able to get an education that would lead them to have a career.
While Hollywood films mimic these massive societal changes, there is a lag between the historical events and when Hollywood begins to incorporate these tremendous societal changes in their films. Overall, women have made considerable strides in the movie industry, and not until recently; women are portrayed realistically. While I only focus on films where the Academy Award for “Best Leading Actress in a Leading Role” won, it would be interesting for future work to look at the portrayal of women in films where “Best Actor in a Leading Role” or “Best Film” won. Future work could also continue to track how the changes hold up with more recent social events occurring, such as the Black Lives Matter movement and the first woman Vice President elected to office.
