The slogan was a phrase that Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, used in an article in the 1970s. She wrote a scholarly article that attempted to study the well-behaved Puritan women and how they got celebrated in their funerals. When people read that statement, they became more curious and gave it different meanings; while some celebrated the fading of feminism, others thought it had just started. Kay Mills, a journalist, altered the statement slightly in her work on the informal history of American women, and this caused an uproar on the subject.
The altered slogan propelled Ulrich to fame, and it gave her a new outlook on American popular culture. It led to her further exploration of the subject, and she even wrote a book. In the book, she gave an explanation on the reason that women who behaved contrary to the social norms made it in history, while others who were humble and followed rules seldom got recognized. Ulrich supported her slogan by giving an example of the good wives. Their roles entailed nursing their injured partners, cooking and bearing children for them while they fought in wars or took part in other activities considered masculine. The women did exemplary jobs in taking care of their households, but rarely got remembered because such roles were normal.
In the article, Ulrich explains that well-behaved women should make history, Ulrich mentioned Rosa Parks; a woman who became accidentally famous when she defied the reigning rules during the Civil Rights Movement. Also in the list is Mae West, who people considered misbehaved and associated her with constant scandals and show business, explaining how their “wrong doing” gave them a place in the historical books. As she describes these examples, Ulrich highlights her actual purpose of her thesis and provides a concrete context for the slogan. A framework for the slogan eliminates the possibilities of vast unintended interpretations.
Works Cited
Lavoie, Amy. “Ulrich explains that well-behaved women should make history.” Harvard Gazette 20 September 2007. Web. 29 October 2014. Retrieved from http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/09/ulrich-explains-that-well-behaved-women-should-make-history/
