Note: This analysis contains spoilers for Lessons in Chemistry and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. It also raises issues of sexism, misogyny and assault.
If you have heard any of the rhetoric that has come out of the manosphere, one of the common threads is the idea that women in the 1950’s were real women. They knew their place, which was in the home, and they knew their responsibilities, which was to be a wife and mother. The implication is that a woman has no role, value, or place outside that domestic sphere. A man’s role was to provide for and protect his family by going out to work and earning money. The lament of these manosphere influencers is that these were better times, and that we need to get back to a world where this hierarchical, and supposedly “natural”, order exists once more.
This narrative tends to ignore or completely deny the reality of women’s experience during that time. It puts an idealised, and possibly idolised, version of society, relationships and the nuclear family on a pedestal. Two television shows offer a small glimpse into the difficulties and problems faced by women of that era, especially if that ideal didn’t exist due to the death or the abandonment of the husband.
Lessons in Chemistry is an eight-part mini-series, based on the novel by the same name, about Elizabeth Zott, a Chemist who struggles to get ahead in her very male dominated field. She becomes a renowned cooking show host, who treats her housewife viewers with respect and dignity, recognising that cooking meals is a worthy task and a job in its own right.
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel is a five-season comedy, following the rise of Jewish stand-up comic Midge Maisel. She has faithfully supported her husband in his comedy pursuit, only to discover he has cheated on her with his secretary. Midge discovers that she is the one with a keen sense of observational humour and begins pursuing her passion in the midst of backlash and rejection in the male dominated show industry.
In both shows, the lead characters have to fight for recognition, for status, for worth, for pay, and for rights. They come up against an incredible number of barriers to be able to do not only what they love, but what they are highly skilled at. The main issue that they have to contend with is the patriarchy, expressed in sexist, sometimes misogynistic, attitudes and behaviours.
Elizabeth Zott is a highly capable Chemist. She is often the smartest person in the room, whether she is surrounded by other scientists or television executives. She was prevented from continuing her PhD studies when her supervisor sexually assaulted her. When she defended herself, she was the one who was expected to “apologise for the misunderstanding” if she wanted to continue her studies. When she stood by her principles and refused to apologise to the man who had assaulted her, she was let go from the PhD programme. As a result, she was only allowed to be a lab technician instead of a scientist in a research laboratory, despite having her Master’s degree.
Another scientist identifies her capabilities and, on his demands, they partner up to pursue some original research. Despite the fact that she is the one who is leading the research, it will not be accepted unless she removes her name from their scientific paper. Only her partner’s name would be included. When he passes away, all their research is stolen by the lab and given to others to pursue without her knowledge or consent.
Elizabeth recognises that if she were to become a mother, her scientific career would be derailed. She has made a decision that she will not become one. Her career is her great passion and scientific discovery is what drives her. When she discovers that she is pregnant, however, she decides to keep the child. Her partner is tragically killed before either of them were aware of the pregnancy, so the baby becomes her last connection to him.
Her pregnancy comes with consequences, however. When the research lab finds out that she is pregnant, they want to fire her, despite the fact that this was not part of their policies or procedures. The lab claimed it was an unspoken and understood law. Elizabeth fights back, but she is demoted to a secretary for an out of touch scientist who is no longer conducting research but is kept on because of his name.
When Elizabeth inadvertently lands a job as a television cook, she treats the role with dignity and respect. She treats her female housewife audience in the same way and ends up with a huge following. Finally, someone is actually taking women’s work seriously and valuing it. Elizabeth’s wearing of a lab coat in the kitchen, rather than a frilly apron and impractical clothes, gives cooking validity.
Her ideas and her leadership are often dismissed, despite usually being superior and insightful. She has to cleverly get around barriers and restrictions. When she refuses to support a food brand sponsor because she knows of its poor health consequences, she finds an alternative sponsor in a tampon company. She takes a taboo subject, menstruation, and talks about it calmly allowing for communication on the subject to start.
Elizabeth is not perfect. She begins to realise that her situation as a white woman has parallel and even worse correlations in the African American community in the United States. A whole neighbourhood is about to be demolished due to a new highway being planned to rip right through only black communities. At first ignorant of their experience and plight, Elizabeth ends up joining a protest and sees first-hand the violence that is exacted upon marginalised people, both men and women, when they stand up to power.
Midge Maisel is comfortable in her well-off life as a wife and mother to two children, until her husband leaves her for another woman. Her life is shattered and she realises that she is now responsible for earning her own money and providing for herself and her children. While she obviously loves her children, her parents are wealthy enough to afford a maid who realistically does the vast majority of the child care, because Midge needs to work to ensure a level of security. She is excluded from financial transactions when she is divorced. She can’t get a home loan or accounts at local businesses because she is a woman.
Midge becomes a comic while also working a variety of jobs to make ends meet. She struggles to get gigs and her female manager often faces ridicule and rejection in trying to get Midge work. When she does eventually find some regular work as a writer on a comedy show, she is paid less than the male writers, despite doing the same job. When she upstages the host, who has been deliberately sabotaging her efforts to progress in her job, and demonstrates her superior comic ability, she is fired. Being an observational stand-up comic, she insightfully and wittily comments on the world and her experiences in it. She cannot, however, say the exact same things as her male counterparts. It is seen as funny if a man makes the joke, but if a woman says the same thing, it is vulgar, unladylike, or literally imprisonable.
Midge’s comedy is an insightful, cutting, witty, and highly accurate reflection on the female experience. She tells it like it is – everything from being a mother, to experiencing adultery, to financial discrimination, to restrictive and uncomfortable fashion, even sex. Mixed in with this is her experience of being a Jewish woman in New York. She has to fight every step of the way, however. There are very few “good luck” moments in the show. She and her manager have to make things happen because so few people take her seriously or respect her skill and talent, until she is at the top of her game and very successful.
Her Jewish parents and ex-in-laws constantly dismiss, discredit, and outright belittle her skills as a comic. They don’t value or appreciate her desire to work or to entertain. They see her only role as being a wife and mother, despite the fact that that ideal has been broken. The irony is that she has serious skills that result in her becoming one of the most famous, wealthy, and successful comediennes in the industry.
Both Lessons in Chemistry and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel highlight some of the very real experiences of women, not just in the 1950’s and 1960’s, but what many women continue to experience today. Discrimination in the workplace; the gender pay gap; unrealistic expectations concerning appearance and domestic roles; backlash if they speak or behave in the same manner as men. Patriarchal attitudes do great harm to women.
They do great harm to men as well, however. While men may benefit more from the patriarchy, it still dehumanises them as it does women. They are reduced in their role and essence to being merely a worker and provider. They are limited in the emotions they are “allowed” to express as men. They also can be shaped to perceive others as “less than”. This means that their humanity is stunted and is never fully formed or expressed.
When we are made in the image of God, we have the capacity to express a full gamut of emotions, skills, abilities, behaviours, and attitudes. Strength is not just a masculine trait. It is an aspect of God’s character and is therefore a trait able to be expressed by both men and women. Nurture is not just a feminine trait. It is an aspect of God’s character and is therefore a trait able to be expressed by both men and women. Anything that we can think of, that God is – creative, powerful, loving, forgiving, grace-filled, joyous, mysterious – can all be expressed by both women and men in order that all can become more fully human.
Dr Katherine Grocott
If you have not heard of the manosphere, Kate Cantrell’s article Don’t blame toxic masculinity for online misogyny – the manosphere is hurting men toogives a helpful overview.The Compass episode Hijacking Adolescence, demonstrates how it is deliberately targeting teenage boys and the effect that is having on female students and teachers. Netflix’s acclaimed Adolescence depicts its tragic effect on one boy. Insights reviewed it here.
