Womens' Work Roles: Fairy Tales and Beyond

The women in fairy tales stories don't usually do much other than cleaning, cooking, and trying to look good to attract a prince. Cinderella cooked and cleaned the house; Donkeyskin got a job working in a kitchen; Snow White cleaned and baked for the dwarves; Little Red Riding Hood's mother baked and and took care of Granny; Beauty got up at 4:00 in the morning and "started cleaning the house and preparing breakfast for the family" (De Beaumont 33). These activities were very normal and perfectly right for the time periods in which these tales were told and written down. The women were fulfilling their womanly roles. What about the roles of women today? Have they changed? Thank goodness, I think this is an area of women's lives that has changed. It is not at all unusual for a woman to work outside the home and to have a full-time career. Look at this video clip from the 1950's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgGFzUS4tkg
The man says, "Just about an hour ago, I got you fired." When the woman looks shocked and asks why he did that, he responds with, "I figured that being my wife would take up all of your time." I guess this was his idea of a romantic marriage proposal. Never mind that it was sexist, domineering, and extremely rude. I don't think women of today would go for this kind of treatment. They would be furious, and probably cuss him out, or something worse. The woman of the 1950's actually smiles and accepts his proposal! She looks happy to think that she is going to be somebody's wife instead of working at whatever job that was that he got her fired from.
I don't think men of today would be stupid enough to try this approach. Getting someone fired from their job is not considered romantic or manly. This gives me hope that maybe some roles for women have progressed since the days of fairy tales. Women are able to work in various jobs that they want to pursue. However, I fear that women are still expected to do more than an equal share of housework, even if they work the same hours outside the home. Cooking and cleaning are still considered "women's work" and we need to continue changing this belief. Some couples share equally in the household chores, but I think many women are still doing more than their fair share. This takes me back to our discussions of those darned kitchen and cleaning toys that they are marketing to children. We need to give our little girls more choices as to the toys they play with! Baby dolls and fashion dolls and kitchens are all good toys, but maybe we can empower our girls to play with a variety of toys including toy work benches and remote control dinosaurs and science kits. Then they will think about other roles they could have when they grow up besides "housekeeper."