Although the number of women at work did continue
to rise after the war, female workers and
career-women were viewed with suspicion by many.
The traditional idea that a woman’s role was a
homemaker raising her family was very influential in
1950s USA.
The average age at which women were married was 20 – the youngest for 60 years. Newspaper and magazine articles encouraged women to return to the home. Popular TV shows such as ‘I Love Lucy’ and ‘Father Knows Best’ carried this message into homes.
Father Knows Best, 1954-8.
A very influential book was ‘Modern Women: the Lost Sex’ by Maryinia Farnham and Ferdinand Lundgren.
It claimed that most of society’s problems – alcoholism, teenage hooliganism and even war – were because of women following careers instead of being housewives and mothers.
Kitchen and cleaning appliances like washing machines, fridges and Hoovers were advertised as being ‘every woman’s dream’.
The Suburbs
The suburbs developed in the 1950s.
Middle-class families left the cities to
live in new houses in large suburban
estates. The husband would drive to
work in his car and the wife would
stay at home and bake apple pies.
The only companionship women could look forward to was weekly ‘Tupperware Parties’ where neighbours would gather to have coffee and buy plastic kitchen products.
The Reaction
Many women decided there was more to life than babies, dishes and happy husbands. They felt that their contribution to the war effort had been forgotten. In the 1960s thousands joined NOW – the National Organisation for Women.
A book was published in 1963 which changed the world.
Betty Friedan, a Communist, wrote ‘The Feminist
Mystique’. It said that women had been brainwashed
by men into being their servants. She called upon women
to educate themselves and become partners with their
men rather than second-class citizens
This book helped launched the later Women’s Movement .
Key Films to Watch
‘The Stepford Wives’(1975)
Chilling horror film about a town where all the women are typical 1950s wives – or are they?
‘Pleasantville'(1998)
A great film starring Reece Witherspoon
(Legally Blonde) and Tobey Maguire
(Spiderman) about the effects of the new
ideas on a suburban 1950s town.