Abstract
Throughout time, society has seen incredible shifts and changes within several cultural norms. Women’s rights movements, especially, mark many phenomenal changes within our history in normalizing women in the workforce or on platforms leveled with men. Women have taken up space in male-dominated industries, restructured traditional policies and regulations, and have raised awareness on long-neglected issues centered around women. However, associations between women and domestic work still stand strong today. Especially in the bathroom, current advertising and technology cannot shake off old social constructs that women belong at home. So despite several movements and progressive examples being facilitated by women, what external factors or social pressures are holding these orthodox structures together? This research contributes to the dialogue answering this question. Through studying case studies and written analyses of these continued ideals of the “domestic woman,” we investigate what societal factors still oppress women today and refuse to liberate them. Prominent such as developing bathroom technology and advertising strategies dating back a century display what main forces cannot adapt to new methods of servicing women. More time and effort focusing on deconstructing these forces at their roots will be required if society is to see a more fair, inclusive goods and services for women as well as dissipating their association to domestic work.
Research
“Early Stages of Bathroom Accessibility for Women.” Tracing the history of women’s unique needs being neglected in the bathroom, this article covers some examples of society’s ignorance (i.e. menstrual inequity, risk of infection).
“Women’s Role in the Bathroom.” With text support by Jessamyn Neuhaus, we explore how advertising has evolved and yet not changed at all to assign housewives and mothers to the bathroom.
Bibliography
Fetkenhour, Sage. “How Society’s View on Gender Has Influenced Segregation and Inequality: Stemming From the Creation of Public Bathrooms During the 19th Century.” UOregon Blogs, 31 Jan 2021.
Klein, Sarah. “Why You Should Never Squat Over the Toilet Seat.” Health, 08 March 2021, www.health.com/condition/incontinence/squatting-over-toilet-seat.
Neuhaus, Jessamyn. “The Bathroom.” Housework and Housewives in Modern American Advertising: Married to the Mop, Palgrave Macmillan US, 2011, pp. 69–105.
Wheeler, Jenna. “Public toilets and the plight of menstruating women.” UOregon Blogs, 02 Feb 2021.