Change of Gender Roles Seen Through Music

Women’s roles throughout history have been constantly changing. This was seen in our “through the decades” activity in class. Starting with the 1940s it seemed that women’s rights and roles in society would take a progressive step forward one decade while taking a regressive step back in the following decade. I noticed that the change in female roles in society for each decade could be seen in music and its lyrics. I came across songs from two totally different decades that show the change in women’s ideal roles from gender movements throughout history.

The songs I chose to analyze are “Ev’ry Day Of My Life" by the McGuire Sisters released in 1956 and “Independent Women” by Destiny’s Child released in 2001. The McGuire Sisters and Destiny’s Child are two groups, both consisting of three female artists. The lyrics of these two songs represent the decade from which they were released in and what was thought to be normal in society for females as well as the emerging gender roles for women in society.

In the 1950’s the ideal gender roles of women were mainly housekeeping, taking care of the children, and making sure that the husband of the family was happy. Women were passive, reticent, and under the authority of men. It was not common for women to work outside of the household because the male was the provider and worker in society. In “Ev’ry Day Of My Life” the lyrics talk about a woman who promises to love her husband everyday of her life and to “always try to do what pleases you [the husband]”. This sentence within the lyrics of the song would represent the women doing whatever she can for her husband, for example, making sure dinner is ready on the table when he gets home from work, which was a social norm of women and their roles in the 1950s, or taking care of the children while the husband was at work. A wife was considered to be a “good” wife if she followed the orders of her husband and did everything she could to please him. Another part of the song says “ev’ry day of my life, I’ll need you close to me, and if I have my way, that’s where you’ll always be”. This phrase of the song represents the fact that women in the 1950s needed men in their life. It was a social and stereotypical gender role for women to find love, marry young, and provide for their husband. Divorce was uncommon, thus, for the most part, husband and wife were together for life after pronouncing “I do”.

Women’s roles and views on life in the decade of the 90s and on was the complete opposite of the 1950s. There was a big change from the old views of femininity and women starting moving away from characteristics such as passivity, reticence, and assuming that men are the authority. A woman in power and in the workforce was now an emerging social norm. Feminism was continuing from decades before and the idea of “girl power” was seen continuously in the media. Women doing things independently and taking care of themselves was more common. The need for a husband, like in the 1950s, was not top on a female’s priority list anymore. These gender roles and change in roles and views of women is perfectly outlined in Destiny’s Child’s 2001 hit, “Independent Women”. This song portrays women being independent, working to get necessities and material things in life, and control over oneself (not being controlled by a man or husband). These gendered themes are shown in the phrases: “I worked hard and sacrificed to get what I get, ladies it ain’t easy being independent”, “the shoes on my feet, I’ve bought it, the clothes I’m wearing, I’ve bought it, the rock I’m rocking, I’ve bought it, ‘cause I depend on me”, and “tell me how you feel about this, try to control me, boy you’ll get dismissed”. Women in the 90s and on were relying more on themselves, mainly because of the independence females were gaining in society. Equal rights of men and women were improving and women were now getting out of the house and putting themselves and their roles higher up on the priority list.

I think it is so interesting how gender roles and social norms of different times in history are represented and seen within music and its lyrics. These two songs are just examples of how these different decades had such a radical change in gender roles, especially those of women.

-JL

References
http://www.mtv.com/lyrics/mcguire_sisters/ev_ry_day_of_my_life/13540610/lyrics.jhtml
http://www.lyrics007.com/Destiny's%20Child%20Lyrics/Independent%20Women%20Lyrics.html