The issues women faced i the 1950's can almost be summed up in a very particular scene in Day of the Outlaw. Hal, hoping to protect his land, plans to constrct a barbed wire fence around his property and his family that lives within it. This serves as a large metaphor, in that women had a similar "fenced-in" lifestyle in the 1950's. The 50's were considered to be the prime of domestic culture. The husband worked to provide, and the wife tended to the home and the children. Te soldiers wee back from war, and a woman seeking a professional career was once again very rare. The film finds a similar tune, and shows the struggles that women faced during the 1950's.
Helen describes such a sturggle in her dialouge with Blaise. She tells him that she feels chained-down in her marriage, and that it is keeping her from living a happy lifestyle. She grows attachment to Blaise who wishes for her to recieve this freedom. As in many westerns, the role of the woman at first may seem very strong. Helen is a woman with great peronality, she shares her views and ideals at her will, and symbolizes the change in howpeople view women. In the 1950's women started puttint their ideas out in the world, no longer did they remain silent. However, the power of women in the end is very little. The outlaws come into the town and show how vulnerable and how ill-resepected women are. They treats them as objects, and they almost remove any human traits from their personailty. They are seen as objects of pleasure, and objects that are to be used at their will.
The 1950's were a transition period for women that was reflected in Day of the Outlaw. While women's input and voice was beginning to be heard and felt, they still ultimately were restricted by society from pursuing their ambitions. Helen' struggle throughout the film shows this struggle, and expresses the pain of male dominance, and the ideas behind the women's rights movement.
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