How has the gender roles between males and females changed between the
time periods. Please give a specific example of a time when progress
has been made.

For instance when women went to work in factories for men in WWII.

Dear americana27, 

Gender roles have gone through dramatic changes in the 20th century,
especially since the end of the Second World War. There are two levels
that should be discussed here. The first, is the changes in the
perception of the roles of women. The second is the changes in the
roles and status of those with different sexual orientations.

Regarding the first level, there were several important developments
in the 20th century that serve as landmarks in the changes of gender
roles in the American society. First of all, it stem out of needs. A
very important woman in the US social history is "Mother Jones". In
1912, the then 82 year old became the leader of miners' strike in West
Virginia. Before, women were not considered fit by union activists to
become union leaders, but Mother Jones proved them wrong.

Four years later, another symbolic action marked the first stages of
the political emancipation of women in America: in Montana, where
women could vote, Jeanette Rankin (R) was elected to the House of
Representatives. In 1920, the 19th Amendment gave all women the right
to vote. Politically, this was an important event. However, it was
mainly symbolic, since gender roles have not changed drastically, and
women remained powerless in most levels.

During WWII, as you mentioned, women became part of the working force.
There was an ambivalence towards the integration of women in the work
force, as many cultural pieces of the era show. At the same time,
gender roles were more and more shaped by the popular culture: TV
(since the 1950s), cinema (and especially Westerns) and popular media.
In the Westerns, most men were the John Wayne type, and the women were
to be rescued. In the 1950s TV, working women were portrayed as
devils, and the ideal woman was the home bound mother (See the film
Pleasantville for an interesting de-construction of the issue).

The 1960s brought with them new changes in gender roles in America. On
the one hand, middle classed women began to demand actual equality (or
representation), except for that symbolic political representation.
The fact that by the 1950s, the women who worked during the war, were
made to go back into the kitchen and leave the working arena to men
only, created frustration that fed the feminist movement. At the same
time, some women fought for more basic needs - in the same country.
Johnny Tillmon, an African American single mother of 6, is a good
example of a woman who organised (1962) and stood at the front of the
struggles for better welfare for mothers.

A landmark Supreme Court decision of the same years, changed the face
of the debate on the right of women over their bodies, a debate that
is still alive in the United States. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled
in favour of abortions as a constitutional right.

Since the 1970s, the civil rights revolution, the feminist movement
and the activism towards change in gender roles - the involvement of
more women in politics, business, military and other realms that were
not considered "feminine" - were connected with another type of change
in gender roles. Lesbians, homosexuals and transgendered individuals
began to demand equal rights. These issues are usually not associated
with the change in the gender roles, but are actually part of the
changes in the perceptions of the society and its expectations of
males and females.


Further Reading
===============

Ann Watson, "Changes in Gender Roles", posted to
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist361/forum/messages/76.shtml,
October 23, 2002

Renzetti, Claire and Durran, Daniel
WOMEN, MEN AND SOCIETY, third edition Allyn & Bacon, 1995. 

Mother Jones : The Most Dangerous Woman in America by Elliott J. Gorn.
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0809070936/ltc-political>

And more about Mother Jones here : 
"Mother Jones", <http://political.lifetips.com/TipNL.asp?Tipid=54517>

About Johnie Tillmon: 
"Johnny Tillmon" <http://political.lifetips.com/TipNL.asp?Tipid=58143>

About Row v. Wade http://www.roevwade.org 

Search strategy: I searched for terms such as "gender roles" "america
society" and also for the specific examples.

I hope that answered your question. If you need any further
clarifications on the answer please let me know. I'd be pleased to
clarify my answer before you rate it.