Betty Draper

"Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slip-cover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night 0 she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question - "Is this all?" - Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (1963)

Betty Draper, portrayed by actress January Jones, has grown to become not only my favorite character on Mad Men, but also one of my favorite television characters of all time. I've always been drawn to strong female characters in the shows I watch. Betty started out as a weak woman enslaved by her home and family. She evolved into an independent woman with her own inner strength separate from her husband and children. Many critics and viewers criticize Betty for her actions and often proclaim that she is an awful character. She is not perfect. But no one on the show is. In fact, compared to the show's lead character and her husband, Don, she is practically a Saint. She's a terrible mother and often acts like a child, but her flaws make her interesting and much more entertaining to watch.

She begins the series married to Don, a advertising executive who spends most of his time with work or other woman and only uses his wife as an accessory. She's suffered the loss of both of her parents, lived through an unfaithful marriage, and gone through a divorce. Her husband even lied to her about his true identity through the entirety of their marriage. She smokes, drinks, and treats her children horribly, but she represents many of the ideals and practices of the 1960s. During the first three seasons, when she is married to Don, she spends most of her time in the house. It is her prison. She cooks, cleans, and cares for the children, but she even has a housekeeper to help with most of the work (which brings in issues of race and class as well). In one of her strongest scenes from the first season, she rubs against a washing machine while having sexual thoughts about a man other than her husband. This image vividly depicts her connection to the home; when she is feeling disconnected from Don, even the household appliances aid her sexually. Another iconic moment from the first season is Betty shooting birds in her backyard with a shotgun. It represents her strength and ferocity with which she protects her home and family. Her husband appears to have most of the power in their marriage, but over time she grows a voice and confronts him about his infidelity and lies. This is when they eventually divorce, and unfortunately she instantly moves onto another marriage. She may have developed a great strength, but the expectations of the time period and the ideals engraved into her mind control her.

Quotes from "'A Mother Like You': Pregnancy, the Maternal, and Nostalgia," Diana Davidson, Analysing Mad Men: Critical Essays on the Television Series, Scott F. Stoddart:

"...representations of motherhood in Mad Men are as much about a contemporary audience's ambivalence around motherhood as they are about representing an authentic 1960s American identity." (pg. 137)

"As a wife and mother, Betty has become a product of her time, the prosperous post-war/pre-feminist era, where a middle-class woman's worth was in her ability to produce children, raise children, keep house, and entertain. Betty starts to challenge this identity and her role within her marriage to Don." (pg. 138)

"Betty is intertwined with the objects of the house and the car throughout the series' first two seasons... Throughout Mad Men, the Drapers' house becomes synonymous and entwined with Betty: the domestic realm is where Betty is both safe and entrapped... Betty's identity is determined by the boundaries of the domestic space." (pg. 138)

"Betty is wife, mother, house, car, and garage all in one; she is seen as a role and as property - not as an individual person." (pg. 138)

"Betty's associations with the house and the car come to symbolize her resistance to her role of wife-and-mother that begins at the end of Season One and dominates Season Two: she takes control of the house and car and, in doing so, changes the boundaries of her identity." (pg. 139)

"Mad Men shows us that Betty Draper is unhappy for many reasons: she feels entrapped in her role of wife and mother, she desires to know her secretive husband on a deeper level, she suspects (and then has confirmation of) her husband's infidelity, and because she has just lost her own mother when Season one begins." (pg. 141)

The Women of "Mad Men"

Mad Men takes place in the man's world of 1960s advertising, however, its portrayal of women is arguably the most elaborate and in-depth of the show. Rather than focus on the surface level stereotypes and misogyny of the time, the show explores its women much more deeply, and they are created into well-round, dynamic individuals. The central women of the series, Betty Draper, Peggy Olson, and Joan Holloway are all unique and interesting portrayals that depict the various types of womanhood from the time period. Betty represents the suburban lifestyle and domesticity of women in the home in the 60s. She spends most of her time in the Draper home, with the children, and socializing with other housewives. Don is clearly the head of their household and is subservient to him throughout the series until their divorce. Peggy represents a much more interesting aspect of womanhood at the time, since she defies many of the female stereotypes of the era. She is a career woman, who has worked her way from the secretary pool to her own office as a copywriter in the ad agency. Her career is her priority, though she often seeks out romantic company as well, even though she does not fall into the typical ideas of feminine beauty of the time, especially in the beginning of the series. Joan represents the over-sexualization of woman of the time period. She is the head secretary of the agency and is often the subject of the office men's conversation. She is desired by almost all men she meets (and even a few women) and has had an affair with a married man. But she is still a strong and independent woman who stands up for herself when she needs to. There are several other interesting female portrayals on the show, however, these three central characters are the most significant to the series as a whole in its representation of women and femininity in the 1960s.

Quotes from "Social Values in Mad Men and Revolutionary Road: Conformity and Loss of the Dream in the Golden Era of American Ascendancy," Boris Irbic:

"At the core of this highly competitive, male-dominated workplace are the relationships of power, based on class, status, gender and sexual gratification, and they seem to be inherently unstable."

"The women - Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss), an aspiring copywriter; Rachel Menken (Maggie Siff), the lonely and ambitious Jewish heiress to a department store fortune; and Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks), a head secretary at Sterling Cooper - are a fascination, heterogeneous group. They are divided by their class status, interests and professional aspirations, yet connected by their desperate attempts to escape solitude and somehow reconcile their career plans with the controlling presence of men in their lives. These women strive for companionship, financial support and protection, and endure humiliation and misogyny, fearful about opposing the rhetoric and actions of their colleagues, lovers and bosses."

"Suburban married life, on the other hand, is presented as a synonym for misery and depression. The experiences of Betty Draper (January Jones), Don's wife and a former model; her neighbour, Francine Hanson (Anne Dudek), distraught about her husband's infidelity; and Peter's naive wife, Trudy Campbell (Alison Brie), who feels marginalised by her husband's family, are all cleverly juxtaposed with the everyday events in the office."

"The writers acknowledge that women who strive for professional equality may not be interested in the same egalitarian principles in their sexual relationships. Consequently, we are never quite clear about the nature of their bonds with their male colleagues. One can assume that these anxious and distressed women use their sexual appeal as a strategy for negotiating the next step on the professional ladder, and are forced to accept rules of the business world that stretch the boundaries between the private and the professional. However, one can deduce that their attraction to cruel, ruthless, neurotic men in their lives also reveals a sense of sympathy, understanding and, perhaps, love."