After the end of World War II, women who had entered the work force during the war were expected to return to the home; "Rosie the Riveter" was to have been a wartime aberration. As these women married returning servicemen, the greatest increase in the native-born population in U.S. history, known as the baby boom, began.
In 1946, to help these new mothers, Dr. Benjamin Spock, a noted pediatrician, published Baby and Child Care, which immediately became a bestseller. It contributed to the renewed cult of domesticity and the child-centered image of the middle-class (largely white) woman. Throughout the 1950s, U.S. women strove to be perfect housewives and mothers, their task supposedly made easier by the many new appliances available. In reality, the ideal suburban middle-class life created its own problems, which in turn contributed to the rise of the women's movement of the 1960s. This article from the Ladies' Home Journal illustrates how lonely and unattractive middle-class motherhood could be.
Mrs. Gould: As editors and parents we are extremely interested in this whole problem. The welfare of our society depends upon the type of children you young mothers and others like you are able to bring up. Anything that affects the welfare of young families is most crucial, and I do feel that the young mother, any young mother in our day, should get far more general recognition and attention than she does -- not so much for her own sake as for society as a whole, or just out of sheer common sense.
Miss Hickey: And understanding. I think there is a lack of understanding, too. Since it would take all day to tell what a busy woman does all day . . . how about your high points?
Mrs. Petry: I would say in the morning -- breakfast and wash time. I put the breakfast out, leave the children to eat it and run into the bathroom -- that is where the washer is -- and fill it up. I come back into the kitchen and shove a little in the baby's mouth and try to keep the others eating. Then I go back in the bathroom and put the clothes in the wringer and start the rinse water. That is about the end of the half-hour there. I continue then to finish the wash, and either put them out or let them see one program they like on television, and then I go out and hang the wash up.
Miss Hickey: You put that outside?
Mrs. Petry: Yes. Then I eat.
Mrs. Gould: Can you sit down and eat in peace? Are the children outdoors at that time or watching television?
Mrs. Petry: They are supposed to be outside, but they are usually running in and out. Somebody forgot something he should have eaten, or wants more milk, or a toy or something. Finally I lock the screen door. I always read something while I'm eating -- two meals a day I read. When my husband isn't there, and if I am alone, or maybe just one child at the table, I read something quick. But I time it. I take no more than half an hour for eating and reading.
Miss Hickey: You work on schedule quite a bit. Why do you do that?
Mrs. Petry: Because I am very forgetful. I have an orange crayon and I write "defrost" on the refrigerator every now and then, or I forget to defrost it. If I think of something while I am washing, I write it on the mirror with an eyebrow pencil. It must sound silly, but that is the only way I can remember everything I have to do. . . .
Miss Hickey: Mrs. Ehrhardt, your quietest half-hour?
Mrs. Ehrhardt: I would say . . . that when I go out to take the wash in. There is something about getting outdoors -- and I don't get out too often, except to hang out the wash and to bring it in. I really enjoy doing it. If it is a nice day, I stand outside and fold it outdoors. I think that is my quietest hour.
Miss Hickey: How often do you and your husband go out together in the evening?
Mrs. Ehrhardt: Not often. An occasional movie, which might be every couple of months or so, on an anniversary. This year is the first year we celebrated on the day we were married. We were married in June. We always celebrated it, but it might be in July or August.
It depends on our babysitter. If you cannot get anyone, you just cannot go out. I am not living near my family, and I won't leave the children with teenagers. I would be afraid it might be a little hectic, and a young girl might not know what to do. So we don't get out very often. . . .
Miss Hickey: Let us hear about Mrs. Petry's recreation.
Mrs. Petry: Oh, I went to work in a department store that opened in Levittown. I begged and begged my husband to let me work, and finally he said I could go once or twice a week. I lasted for three weeks, or should I say he lasted for three weeks.
Mrs. Gould: You mean you worked in the daytime?
Mrs. Petry: Three evenings, from six until nine, and on Saturday.
Mrs. Gould: And your husband took care of the children during that time?
Mrs. Petry: Yes, but the third week, he couldn't stand it anymore, Saturday and all. In fact, I think he had to work that Saturday, so I asked if I could just come in to the store during the week. My husband was hoping they would fire me, but they didn't. But I could see that it wasn't really fair to him, because I was going out for my own pleasure.
Mrs. Gould: In other words, your working was your recreation.
Mrs. Petry: Yes, and I enjoyed it very much.
Miss Hickey: Why did you feel you wanted to do this?
Mrs. Petry: To see some people and talk to people, just to see what is going on in the world. . . .
Miss Hickey: How about your shopping experiences?
Mrs. McKenzie: Well, I don't go in the evening, because I cannot depend on Ed being home; and when he is there, he likes to have me there too. I don't know. Usually all three of the children go shopping with me. At one time I carried two and dragged the other one along behind me in the cart with the groceries. It is fun to take them all. Once a man stopped me and said, "Lady, did you know your son is eating hamburger?" He had eaten a half-pound of raw hamburger. When corn on the cob was so expensive, my oldest one begged me to buy corn on the cob, so I splurged and bought three ears for thirty-nine cents. When I got to the check-out counter, I discovered he had eaten all three, so he had to pay for the cobs.
Miss Hickey: You go once a week?
Mrs. McKenzie: Once a week or every ten days now, depending on how often I have the use of the car. That day we usually go to the park, too. . . .
Miss Hickey: Tell us about your most recent crisis.
Mrs. McKenzie: I had given a birthday party for fifteen children in my little living room, which is seven by eleven. The next morning my son, whose birthday it had been, broke out with the measles, so I had exposed fifteen children to measles, and I was the most unpopular mother in the neighborhood. He was quite sick, and it snowed that day. Ed took Lucy sleigh riding. Both of them fell off the sled and she broke both the bones in her arm.
Mrs. Gould: Did she then get the measles?
Mrs. McKenzie: She did, and so did the baby. . . . My main problem was being in quarantine for a month. During this time that all three had measles and Lucy had broken her arm, we got a notice from the school that her tuberculin test was positive -- and that meant that one of the adults living in our home had active tuberculosis. It horrified me. I kept thinking, "Here I sit killing my three children with tuberculosis." But we had to wait until they were over their contagion period before we could all go in and get x-rayed.
Miss Hickey: And the test was not correct?
Mrs. McKenzie: She had had childhood tuberculosis, but it was well healed and she was all right. About eight of ten have had childhood tuberculosis and no one knows it.
Mrs. Gould: It is quite common, but it is frightening when it occurs to you. Were your children quite sick with measles?
Mrs. McKenzie: Terribly ill.
Mrs. Gould: They had high temperatures?
Mrs. McKenzie: My children are a great deal like my father. Anything they do, they do to extreme. They are violently ill, or they are as robust as can be. There is no in-between...
Dr. Montagu: There is one very large question I would like to ask. What in your lives, as they are at present, would you most like to see changed or modified?
Mrs. Ehrhardt: Well, I would like to be sure my husband's position would not require him to be transferred so often. I would like to stay in place long enough to take a few roots in the community. It would also be nice to have someone help with the housework, but I don't think I would like to have anyone live in. The houses nowadays are too small. I think you would bump into each other. Of course, I have never had any one in, so I cannot honestly give an opinion.
Mrs. Townsend: At the present time, I don't think there is anything that I would like to change in the household. We happen to be very close, and we are all very happy. I will admit that there are times when I am a little overtired, and I might be a little more than annoyed with the children, but actually it doesn't last too long. We do have a problem where we live now. There aren't any younger children for my children to play with. Therefore, they are underneath my heels just constantly, and I am not able to take the older children out the way I would like to, because of the two babies.
Miss Hickey: You have been in how many communities?
Mrs. Townsend: I have lived in Louisiana, California, New York, and for a short period in Columbia, South Carolina. . . .
Miss Hickey: Mrs. Petry, what would you change?
Mrs. Petry: I would like more time to enjoy my children. I do take time, but if I do take as much time as I like, the work piles up. When I go back to work I feel crabby, and I don't know whether I'm mad at the children, or mad at the work or just mad at everybody sometimes.
I would also like to have a little more rest and a little more time to spend in relaxation with my husband. We never get to go out together, and the only time we have much of a conversation is just before we go to bed. And I would like to have a girl come and do my ironing.
I am happy there where we live because this is the first time we have stayed anywhere for any length of time. It will be two years in August, and it is the first home we have really had. That is why my husband left the Navy. I nearly had a nervous collapse, because it seemed I couldn't stand another minute not having him home and helping, or not helping, but just being there.
Document Analysis
Why did Mrs. Petry consider working evenings and Saturdays "for her own pleasure"? What does this tell you about her socioeconomic status and about attitudes regarding women's work?
How would you compare the lives of these women to the lives of housewives and mothers in earlier periods of U.S. history? Provide specific examples with evidence.
What conclusions can you draw from the women's closing remarks? What do you think of the lives these women led? How do they compare the lives of most women in the United States today?
Why did Mrs. Petry consider working evenings and Saturdays "for her own pleasure"? What does this tell you about her socioeconomic status and about attitudes regarding women's work?
She did because it was a way for her to get out of the home and its duties for a short while and she saw working at the department store as fun.It was also a way for her to interact with other people and to talk to them because she was alone or with the kids most of the time back home and delighted in hearing about and seeing what was going on in the world through other people.It tells me that she was fairly privileged to be able to even get to work because it seems that the husband made all of the important decisions and was the king of his house. It also seems that women were expected to be in the house taking care of the children and raising them to be good children and this was more important than for women to be in the workforce.
How would you compare the lives of these women to the lives of housewives and mothers in earlier periods of U.S. history? Provide specific examples with evidence.
It seems that while they do have more freedom and more help in the house with machinery and appliances they still, like the women of past generations, are there to serve the men, their husbands.Though while basically still in the same social role as past women, jobs around the house became easier but more numerous.Compared with the cooking that earlier women had to do, the women of this period had it easy.For example women in the 19th century had to use a coal or wood stove which was particularly difficult to maintain and the cooking had to be watched the entire time to maintain temperature for there were no thermometers or a stable constant supply of heat.They later had to clean off the furniture and curtains and walls as soot from the fire got everywhere.Also women had to know had to cook unprepared food for example a chicken must be bought, killed, plucked, and prepared for cooking.One of the most dreaded tasks of women then was the laundry as they had to walk fairly far to get water to do the laundry and bring it back and go back again and again to keep getting more.Not only this but the cleaning of the laundry itself was very arduous and time-consuming as the task was fairly systematic and complex.
What conclusions can you draw from the women's closing remarks? What do you think of the lives these women led? How do they compare the lives of most women in the United States today?
I see that these women were fairly content in their current situations but did have a couple things they would liked changed, like having a helping hand now and then or just staying in one community for a linger period of time to get to know the people better.These women led fairly decent but sometimes laborious lives as they had nice homes but had to do a lot to maintain them and to make sure the children grew up right.Their lives seem to be a little bit sexist with the men running their lives and a little bit less free to do what they want as family came first before their own wants.
1. Why did Mrs. Petry consider working evenings and Saturdays "for her own pleasure"? What does this tell you about her socioeconomic status and about attitudes regarding women's work?
Mrs. Petry felt her working evenings and Saturdays were for her own pleasure because this was her time to see and talk to people and to see what was going on in the world. As a mother, she doesnt get to leave the house and see the world very often. This job provided an opportunity for her to do these things. Women werent expected to go out and get jobs. They were supposed to stay home and do such things like watch the children, clean the house, do the laundry, have dinner ready for when their husband came home, and other numerous house chores.
2. How would you compare the lives of these women to the lives of housewives and mothers in earlier periods of U.S. history? Provide specific examples with evidence.
The women of the 1950s were very much like the women of the mid 1800s and the early 1900s through their experiences and their duties as mothers and housewives in society. In the 1800s and the 1900s, although women may have worked in factories, many of them were housewives and mothers who cared for the children and did household chores to keep the house running smoothly.
3. What conclusions can you draw from the women's closing remarks? What do you think of the lives these women led? How do they compare the lives of most women in the United States today?
These women are for the most part pretty satisfied with their hackneyed lifestyles. Theyve gotten used to doing the same things day in and day out and they really are just appreciating what they have and spending time with their children. They do wish they could see the world a little more or spend some more time with their husbands but theyre ok with how things are for them right now. They lives these women led were simple and not complicated compared to the lives women lead today. Nowadays, women are working 1, 2, or even three jobs at a time. More and more women are becoming single parents and are taking custody of their children meaning that the have to work extra hard and care for their children. Women also worry about petty thing like losing weight which is factored in to their stressed out lifestyle. Although women in the 1950s might not have led interesting lives, they definitely had their advantages compared to todays modern women.
Why did Mrs. Petry consider working evenings and Saturdays "for her own pleasure?What does this tell you about her socioeconomic status and about attitudes regarding womens work?
Mrs. Petry went to work for recreation.She enjoyed the work experience because it allowed her to see people and talk with people in order to what was going on in the world.I would imagine that being around children all day she really wanted some adult contact and time away from household duties and childcare.It seems to me that her socioeconomic class would me middle class status.She really does not have to work because it seems as though the husband is able to fully support the family.It shows me that household duties and caring for the children is considered womens work because her husband did not enjoy having to be put into that role while she was out working and she even tells us that she felt bad for him because of it.
How would you compare the lives of these women to the lives of housewives and mothers in earlier periods of U.S. history?Provide specific examples with evidence.
The women in this document have much to do in taking care of the household and the children as the women of previous generations did.These women live in an era of new inventions and so they have some appliances to make their jobs as housewives a little easier.They have refrigeration so that they can grocery shop once a week or every 10 days and they are able to keep food preserved in the refrigerator.Women of the previous eras did not have that, they had to rely on iceboxes or just plain ice to cool and preserve their food.These women go to the supermarket to get all of the food that their families need.Women before them either had to farm or garden their own vegetables and can them and these women just have to go to the produce section of the store.These women have automobiles for transportation and women of the 18th and 19th century had to use a horse and buggy for transportation. These women have washing machines to wash the clothing in the earlier decades women did not have this the women who preceded them had to wash clothing in wash pans and use a scrubbing board to get the dirt out. Even though their days were full with many household tasks to complete, they still had it a little easier than the women who came before them.
What conclusions can you draw from the womens closing remarks?What do you think of the lives these women led?How do they compare the lives of most women in the United States today?
From the closing remarks, I can see that these women are tired and they would like a little more time for themselves.They seem to feel stressed and overwhelmed with all of the household tasks that they have to complete.Some of them would like to have more quality time with their children but feel guilty if the time takes them away from their other tasks.They also do not feel that they have enough alone time with their husbands.Some of them seem to move around a lot so they are looking for a stable living situation one where they can stay and plant some roots.They also mentioned that it would be nice to have some hired help with some of the household chores.I think that the lives of todays is a little different because the majority of todays women have a job outside of the home and they rely on daycare for the children.I think that in terms of completing all of the needed household chores the responsibility is similar.The women of today still have many demands placed on them in and out of the home but they definitely have more assistance from inventions than the women in this document had to work with.Also today, some women share some of the household responsibilities with their husbands unlike the women in this document.
Why did Mrs. Petry consider working evenings and Saturdays "for her own pleasure"? What does this tell you about her socioeconomic status and about attitudes regarding women's work?
Mrs. Petry considered working evenings and Saturdays for her own pleasure because she got to escape from her little box. Instead of staying home with the children, this job allowed her to get out and catch up with the world outside of her own home. This basically reflects how the time was. Women were just expected to fulfill their household duties. Many thought that they werent capable of doing much more.
How would you compare the lives of these women to the lives of housewives and mothers in earlier periods of U.S. history? Provide specific examples with evidence. The lives of women in the 1950s didnt change that much compared to earlier times.
Men still felt superior to women. Women just completed housework and took care of the children. They werent supposed to work. They werent capable of doings a man job. Although times were slowly changing for the better. Some women had jobs like teaching positions, secretaries, and operators. But then again female teachers were common in the past also.
What conclusions can you draw from the women's closing remarks? What do you think of the lives these women led? How do they compare the lives of most women in the United States today?
Conclusions made from the closing remarks could be that women pretended to be happy. Even thought they might have been overwhelmed with household chores and what not. They supported their husbands. They would do anything to please, if that meant giving up something they enjoyed such as working.
1. Why did Mrs. Petry consider working evenings and Saturdays "for her own pleasure"? What does this tell you about her socioeconomic status and about attitudes regarding women's work?
- Mrs. Petry was accustomed to being at home cleaning, cooking, and looking after her children, and her opportunity to work in a real job gave her a chance to escape that kind of lifestyle and be with people out in the community. It seems to me that she was probably upper-middle or upper class because she didnt HAVE to work; it was because she wanted to work. It is also pretty apparent that she had no notions that it was improper for women to be working outside of the home.
2. How would you compare the lives of these women to the lives of housewives and mothers in earlier periods of U.S. history? Provide specific examples with evidence.
- For many women, especially those whose husbands made enough money so that they didnt have to work, life was very much like those from centuries before. They stayed at home where they cleaned, cooked, looked after children, and took care of their husbands in any way possible. However, housewives of this generation had many modern connivances that made their housework much more manageable than those of their earlier counterparts. Also women were allowed to work outside of their homes unlike women from previous eras, which had to take work into their home if they wanted to earn some extra money for their families. Also nearly all of the work done at home was considered womens work i.e. sewing, cleaning, etc. while the work they did in the 1950s was an array of jobs from factory workers to secretaries.
3. What conclusions can you draw from the women's closing remarks? What do you think of the lives these women led? How do they compare the lives of most women in the United States today?
- Like women today, women of the 1950s wanted to have some help with the work they had to do at home as well as some time to spend on themselves, and not on their husbands or children. Now-a-days people have daycares and babysitters to take care of their children, we also have spas and relaxing things to do to get some alone time, and we have housekeepers and hired help to do housework. The women also mentioned that they wanted to stay in one place, and to spend more time with their husbands. Much of this is accomplished by more stable employment and also a shorter workweek and workday, which frees up more time for people to spend time together.
Why did Mrs. Petry consider working evenings and Saturdays "for her own pleasure"? What does this tell you about her socioeconomic status and about attitudes regarding women's work?
Mrs. Petrys evening job was probably her way of getting some independence from the influences of her husband, the burden of the children, and the immense housework. Like she said other than cooking and cleaning around the house, a job was her only recreational activity and it gave her an opportunity to interact with other people outside her home.
How would you compare the lives of these women to the lives of housewives and mothers in earlier periods of U.S. history? Provide specific examples with evidence. What conclusions can you draw from the women's closing remarks?
It seems that the women of this decade were even more held back than those women of previous years (decades). In the 50s it seems that the women were left to do all the work around the house while the husband worked and the children played, however in years past, it seemed to be a more cooperative effort to keep the home up and running smoothly. For example even as far back as the pre-colonial era the children would participate in keeping up w/ the chores and the husband as well would even after working in the fields come home and help with the bigger more masculine chores (I.e. building/ fixing things around the house and property, ect.)
What do you think of the lives these women led? How do they compare the lives of most women in the United States today?
I think these women had very sheltered and isolated lives with nothing except the house and children to occupy their time. The constant monotony of their situation encompassed with the overwhelming workload would be enough to drive anyone today off the wall, yet they seem oddly content and even happy about their situation having only minor gripes and complains. Today women (and people in general) are more active with their lives doing activities outside the home on a daily basis including holding a job (without the permission of their husbands). Women also seem to have a higher social standing and have become intimately more independent
1. Mrs. Petry considered her work her pleasure because it was the only time she was able to socialize with anyone outside of her house. Many at that time saw womens work to be not as important as that of men. Where men were seen as the breadwinners, women were seen as taking pleasure in their job and using it as a way to socialize. 2. The lives of these women resemble the lives of American women in the early 19th century. At that time a certain cult of domesticity dominated societys view of women. Outside the household, the world should largely remain a patriarchal one; this sort of atmosphere women of both generations lived through. 3. Their concluding remarks hint at a certain discontent they may have with their current lifestyle. I feel for the women who did feel a sense of dissatisfaction. Their lives were far too systematic. Like all people, they shouldve been allowed to step out of norms and show their ingenuity and have fun from time to time. Its a shame they were restricted the way they were.
