The role of women in the bathroom, while it has progressed over the decades, has not seen significant strides in eliminating their association from domestic chores. Already, until the Victorian era there were few motions to add public bathrooms accommodating both men and women. Women weren’t expected to be out in public often, and their duties mainly lined up with maintaining their homes. Thus, bathrooms weren’t made accessible for women until much later. And even once public bathrooms for women became more common, their unique needs would not be met until even later. Such matters include menstrual inequity and risk of infection (Lee, UO Weblog). Arguably, these needs are still not fully met today.
However, we are beginning to see some movement towards improved conditions for public bathrooms servicing women. For example, period products are being made more accessible in high schools in certain states. Still, there is still a great stigma revolving around women and their expected social duties. Trends and social attitudes may have changed greatly since the 1900s, but there is still no doubt that first impressions of household figures are women. This was especially fortified through advertising from the 1900s onward, in which women were always associated with maintaining bathrooms using developed bathroom technology and products. Because of these decades’ worth of advertising, our modern society is still deep in the process of letting go of these instinctive associations. Through the 1900s, we can mark some milestones in terms of advertising efforts to improve women’s situation of being placed in the bathroom. However, at the same time, we see that these efforts are made in vain with their intentions of not dismantling gender roles within their advertisements. These periods of small steps forward and large steps back are what continue to make gender roles hold strong today, and they can be directly linked to the progressing attitudes toward bathroom accessibility for women today.
Old Dutch Cleanser Advertisement Featuring Housewife (http://www.magazineart.org/main.php/v/ads/household/cleaning/Old+Dutch+Cleanser+-1912A.jpg.html)
Oppression of Women in Advertising
Modern advertising emerged in the late 19th century as a way to disseminate product information to stimulate the economy throughout war efforts. These advertisements became very telling about society’s priorities and attitudes reflecting cultural and gender norms. Their impact holds strong to this day in the sense that its production decisions show what consumerism believes to be engaging to the public in order to gather interest and revenue.
While bathrooms became more common after the Civil War, installing bathrooms (including a toilet and bathing facilities) in American homes was standardized around the 1930s. With it came recurring periods of fear for epidemics related to waste, so battling germs and bacteria in one’s home was a regular concept in advertising (Neuhaus 71). In all advertisements, though, this tasking duty was always expected of women or more specifically housewives and mothers. Even when advertisements began including more of the family within its production, it’s very clear that the main subject and target audience were housewives/mothers who needed bathroom cleaners in order to maintain their homes. This constant association of women to their homes (domestic life) continued to oppress women into assuming their main duties were inside their homes rather than the working force or other. This point is further emphasized when analyzing the social pressures women faced which is reflected in advertising.
Social Pressures Associated with Advertising
It was obvious to society that cleaning the bathroom was a daunting task that no one would ever ask for, much less want. Of all household chores, it was arguably the most tasking because it involved “removing traces of the family’s bodily filth” and expunging invisible bacteria. Advertising made some efforts to make the task more enjoyable with the inclusion of miracle, fictional helpers that supposedly made the task easier, but the task was still ultimately left to women. Women were also expected to perform this grueling task while maintaining their own clean and put-together presentation. In the above right image of the Old Dutch Cleanser advertisement, a pretty housewife is depicted cleaning the sink using the cleanser. Yet, she looks tidy: her dress is not bunched up, her hair is perfectly placed, and her hands still well-manicured. These advertisements assure women that their products can help them maintain their composure whilst taking on the dirt and grime that comes with cleaning bathrooms (Neuhaus 88).
Another factor that pressured women into being domestic housewives was the potential of being condemned for having an unclean bathroom. For society in the 1900s, one’s home reflected family values and morals. The concept of “homemaking” was a large burden on women who were especially not a part of the workforce. When welcoming guests into one’s home, having a clean and sanitary presentation is what impressed the guests. There was a lot of stress placed on women to clean their bathrooms so well that their guests could even be impressed by their bathrooms. Advertisements racked up this anxious potential by writing headlines such as “Do You Apologize to Your Guests?” or “Do you feel ill at ease at guests using your bathroom?” in their content (Neuhaus 78).
2011 Mr. Clean Advertisement on Mother’s Day (https://marilinabedros.wordpress.com/2016/02/24/gender-analysis-of-mr-clean-advertisement/)
“Steps Forward” in Dismantling Gender Roles in Advertising
Advertising slowly realized over time with the advent of social movements that society wanted to see different roles for women in media. In response, they conducted slightly varied narratives in terms of advertising bathroom products. However, this still did not quite remove women from traditional gender norms. One attempt emphasized that women were comparable to superheroes who battled against invading bacteria that threatened here household (Neuhaus 98). While in some senses this can be perceived as empowering, there was still no involvement from the father or men in general to clean the bathroom. Because this change was lacking, advertisements still failed to break down gender norms of women being domestic keepers.
Once advertisements included men being responsible for cleaning the bathroom, the narrative completely shifted. Advertisements tended to create male-only environments and the bathrooms were not private at home. This still separated women greatly from women and subjected them to the domestic figure. It was rare to see men in a position similar or equivalent to a housewife’s: at home and fighting for their family’s sake (Neuhaus 97). Even in contemporary examples, there is rarely signs of domestic husbands or fathers in bathrooms. In the left image, one may think there is an improvement now that a male figure, Mr. Clean, represents a cleaning product. However, this 2011 advertisement still mainly showcases a woman (and her daughter) cleaning. Also, the text says, “This Mother’s Day, Get Back To The Job That Really Matters.” This is a sexist headline that affirms cleaning is a feminine job. Ultimately, these “progressive” steps in advertising still pull society back in dismantling traditional gender roles that are so often challenged today.
Lingering Effects in Contemporary Bathroom Issues
Advertising is a great force in enforcing and reflecting societal views over cultural and gender norms, which is why challenging the issue at the root is so necessary. Since advertising still does not separate women from domestic chores entirely, people viewing these advertisements are only reassured that such tasks can be left to women or mothers. This does not teach accountability and self-responsibility to naive, impressionable audiences. As such, this gender issue is perpetuated which can be seen in other similar issues involving bathrooms and women. Going back to my earlier point of menstrual inequity and inaccessibility, women’s voices are only so amplified and so heard as this kind of ignorant behavior is continued. In addition, men still dominate in areas that affect women’s issues, too. Whether this be in niche areas such as bathroom engineering to broader fields like politics, their dominance makes it more difficult to empathize for women and their unique needs. As we press forward, though, we can still hold optimism and hope that things will change for the better and begin more inclusively servicing communities other than cis-white men. Women have made a strong stand against these ignorances by entering the workforce and succeeding in male-dominated fields, so there is a lot to look forward to in the upcoming years.
Bibliography
Lee, Claudia. “Early Stages of Bathroom Accessibility for Women.” UO Weblogs, 08 March 2021. https://blogs.uoregon.edu/wc75/2021/03/08/early-stages-of-bathroom-accessibility-for-women/.
Neuhaus, Jessamyn. “The Bathroom.” Housework and Housewives in Modern American Advertising: Married to the Mop, Palgrave Macmillan US, 2011, pp. 69–105.