Southern Womanhood

The Mrs. NC State contest combined the modern beauty pageant with domestic ideals of wifehood.

By presenting themselves as “Good Wives,” State’s Mates members were associating themselves with a tradition of white southern womanhood that was ultimately conservative in nature, focused on the differences between men and women and upholding the racial status quo.  This portrayal of womanhood follows in the precedent of earlier women’s clubs in the twentieth century South, which used traditional portrayals of white femininity for social and political causes.  This, combined with the increased emphasis on domesticity during the postwar period of the “Baby Boom,”   meant that State’s Mates members used their social associations and activities to portray themselves as good housewives and mothers—even though most of them were working.  Talent shows, fashion shows, and the Mrs. NC State beauty pageant all promoted members as being competent and genteel.

At the same time, State’s Mates members used social activities to assert their dominance as white women over racial minorities, by objectifying Native Americans and African Americans through rituals of inversion.  These programs allowed members to explore the “other” without upsetting the status quo, and also responded to the challenge of the countercultural Beat Generation.  They demonstrated the dominance of social and racial conservatism in the South in the early 1960’s.  These activities were approved by local media, but stopped in the mid-1960’s.  State’s Mates continued to assert conservative domesticity in response to increased numbers of coed students, but soon found themselves irrelevant as they were unable to respond to cultural challenges.

Visit other Exhibits in the Good Wife Diploma.