26 pages • 52 minutes read
Tillie OlsenI Stand Here Ironing
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1961A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Political Context: Second-Wave Feminism
Olsen (1912-2007) was an active participant in the women’s rights movement known as second-wave feminism, which built on the secondary goals of the suffrage-driven first-wave feminist movement. In America, first-wave feminism wound down in the 1920s after the passing of the 19th Amendment, leaving second-wave feminism to peak in the 1960s and 1970s. Second-wave feminism focused on reproductive rights, sexual liberation, and broadening opportunities for women in arenas like education, employment, sports, etc.
“I Stand Here Ironing” illustrates why these movements were necessary. When explaining her choice of work as a single mother in the 1930s, the narrator says, “Except that it would have made no difference if I had known. It was the only place there was. It was the only way we could be together, the only way I could hold a job” (750). Of course, it was difficult for everybody to get work during the Great Depression; however, this being the “only” option for Olsen’s narrator points to the problem of being a woman at a time when educational and employment opportunities were starkly limited by gender.
With some justification, later feminists have critiqued second-wave feminism for its perceived normativity—i.e., its focus on the needs and desires of white, heterosexual, middle-class women. The Feminine Mystique, arguably the defining text of second-wave feminism, focused principally on the tedium of housewives’ existence, overlooking the lower-class women who had long been working outside the home. However, Olsen’s involvement in the movement demonstrates that its ideology was not uniform; she was a socialist with a history of labor activism, and “I Stand Here Ironing” reflects these commitments. Despite the drudgery of domestic work, low-paid and often physically exhausting labor outside the home is no solution to the narrator. In fact, the mother would like to be with her daughter more often, meeting more of her needs and providing her with better childcare, but she has no means of doing so. The story thus captures a working-class woman’s view of domestic life as both a burden and an aspiration.
Social Context: Separate Spheres Ideology
Another aspect of the story’s feminism is its subtle critique of separate spheres ideology. In the middle-class, heteronormative model of the family, men move and work in the public sphere: They go to work, school, and recreational spaces outside the home. Women, on the other hand, are supposed to work, learn, and relax within the home. Their responsibilities include overseeing household staff, participating in decorative arts (such as needlepoint), and contributing to an environment where men can unwind from the stress of their public lives. This division of labor was codified in the 19th century but was a defining feature (or at least ideal) of middle- and upper-class life well into the 20th century.
This model breaks down for Olsen’s narrator, whose husband leaves her and Emily because he can’t face the poverty of their family life. This forces the narrator to navigate both spheres, even though entering the public sphere means neglecting the private sphere:
I would start running as soon as I got off the streetcar, running up the stairs, the place smelling sour, and awake or asleep to startle awake, when she saw me she would break into a clogged weeping that could not be comforted, a weeping I can hear yet (749).
The unpleasant smell and young Emily’s reaction to her mother’s rush to return show the narrator’s struggle to maintain domestic life while working outside the home. Even when she finds a better balance, it doesn’t last long: “After a while I found a job hashing at night so I could be with her days, and it was better. But it came to where I had to bring her to his family and leave her” (750). The narrator is forced to abandon her obligations to Emily, to the private sphere. The second-wave feminist critique of this system proposed various remedies to alleviate women’s domestic burdens and The Competing Pressures of Motherhood, including more cost-efficient childcare, an Equal Rights Amendment that would address the wage gap, and a cultural shift toward men performing more household duties.
The solution in the text is for the narrator to marry a second time, but this merely highlights her lack of options, pushing her back into the role of the housewife, the ironer. As Emily asks, “Aren’t you ever going to finish the ironing, Mother? Whistler painted his mother in a rocker. I’d have to paint mine standing over an ironing board” (754).
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