Over the past century, women have transformed their role in the media and society tremendously. Many years ago a women’s job was to tend to the house, it was concentrated within the private sphere/ domain of the household. These women took upon the ‘mother/housewife’ role and were expected according to societal notions of gender roles, to fulfill household chores and raise children. A man or husband was viewed as a breadwinner who was expected to bring income and financial stability into the household as a result of the ventures that partook in the public realm of employment, he was to provide for the family. Only men were out in the work force – making money, moving up in industries, and making a name for them selves. Women were kept “barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen.”

Following the tradition of women as “housewives,” many magazines were created to tend to women as a sizeable market. The Ladies’ Home Journal, created in 1883[2], was one of the first women’s magazines.  It offered columns about women’s issues and would publish the work of social reformers. The Ladies’ Home Journal is still offered to women today, but does not really offer the same columns it did as in the past.

Times have changed for women, they are now in the corporate boardrooms, actively involved in politics – as we have seen with Senator Hillary Clinton running as a Presidential candidate, and have become influential because they are able to use their own voices. While viewing the website of the Ladies’ Home Journal magazine, I could not help but notice that all headings had to do with the following: 

• Beauty & Fashion

• Health & Fitness

• Relationships

• Family

• Food & Home

During the Victorian period, for example, beauty was represented by women who were more voluptuous. In contemporary society, beauty is represented by the tall, slender, flawless beauty. Health and Fitness discusses diets, gym and ideal weight and toned figure. Relationships are represented as only being successful for those who are young, slender, and beautiful. In essence, those who are not like the above will become spinsters.  All the main topics in the magazine have to do with beauty, fashion, cooking and so forth and nothing to do with women outside of the home. (See cover pages) It is obvious that the magazine is intended for women inside the home, but it does not properly represent the potential for them outside of the home for them in the real world. As a strong advocate of women’s rights, the magazine should focus on bettering the stance of women in our society. This is not to say that no where in the magazine, women in the workforce are not being represented, but it should be a main theme throughout women’s magazines.