Exploring Betty Draper: revealing ongoing gender issues

In the late 50s and early 60s, the American Housewife was a thing. I want to analyze the character of Betty Draper in Mad Men to be sure if things have totally stopped being this way for women today. Of course, things have changed for the better, but some cruelties were imposed on us during that time that still linger.

Emmy-winning costume designer of Mad Men, Janie Bryant says in an interview “It was all about the facade of perfection. Betty worked so hard at it. She is the ultimate WASP. I just loved how pretty Betty was. And she’s such an interesting character because the outside is rooted in perfection and beauty, and the inside is crumbling, because she’s paid so much attention to the exterior, and did not really have that soul-searching moment. Everything was based on what she looked like, and that can never be fulfilling.”[i]

As it was then, it is now, and many women still rely on male validation. Not just psychologically, sometimes whether you get a job or not depends on how you look. Female beauty continues to be a kind of superpower. A privilege that gets you better jobs, better husbands, and better treatment from people in general. If we haven't had the genetic blessing of being born beautiful, we have to fake it. Wearing high heels that destroy our feet and spine, applying a lot of makeup to our faces, and spending fortunes on clothing. We spend money and time on that. A lot of money and a lot of time.

In “The Art of Being a Well-Dressed Wife”, originally published in 1959 and reissued in 2011, Saks Fifth Avenue Designer lays out one guiding principle for women: "Remember it's your husband for whom you're dressing."

The male gaze still dominates most of advertising. Oh, advertising, precisely. If there's one thing that hasn't changed much in 75 years, it's that women continue to be objects of decoration to sell stuff.

She was unhappy to the point of becoming physically ill and getting into a risky car ride with her hands numbed and the kids in it. So, Betty is sent to the psychiatrist. He says about her TO HER HUSBAND: "She seems consumed by petty jealousies and overwhelmed with everyday activities; we're basically dealing with the emotions of a child here." So, hysteria or just plain stupidity.

We know these terms now: depression, anxiety disorders, mood disorders. In Betty´s time, it was just hysteria or infantilization. And it was just for the ladies. Still is to this day. Clinical depression is more common in women than in men. This gender disparity in depression rates is a very well-documented phenomenon. Of course, depression can affect individuals of any gender. However, women are diagnosed with depression at approximately twice the rate of men. We are no longer stuck in a kitchen, but that still happens. (Please go see a doctor if you are not feeling fine).

In “The Feminine Mystique” Betty Friedan wrote about 50s women: "Sometimes, a woman would say, ‘I feel empty somehow . . . incomplete,’" or she would say, ‘I feel as if I don’t exist.’ Sometimes she blotted out the feeling with a tranquilizer”.[ii]

The name of the tranquilizer was Miltown, which has muscle-relaxing effects and acts as a sedative similar to intermediate-acting barbiturates. Its use is typically reserved for short-term treatment of anxiety, as this substance has a high addictive potential and dangerous side effects. Now we use clonazepam, diazepam, lorazepam. I won´t name more drugs, as they are legal, and you can still get them with a prescription.

Betty had had enough, and I'm feeling a little fed up as well.

To summarize, have we really come a long way? Are we nearly close to being equal to men? I would love to hear some opinions on this matter.