Unit 3: Conflict, Compromise and Change, 1939-1968

Section 4: Domestic Trends to 1968

Women in the 1950's Background Information

World War II brought unprecedented economic growth to the U.S. This booming economy created a large demand for labor, especially with many Americans serving in the military. This offered new job opportunities for women and minorities. Women worked in new jobs in the war industry or in filling jobs vacated by those who went to war. About 300,000 American women served in the military during WWII. This opened jobs in technical and engineering fields that had previously been unavailable to women.

*Aircraft engine technician and senior supervisor, Naval Air Base, 1942*

*Women’s Auxiliary Corps laboratory technician conducts an experiment, Fort Jackson State Hospital, 1944*

However, such progress in the workforce was short lived. At the end of the war, women in jobs that had been traditionally filled by men were fired to make way for returning male veterans. Employment rates for women continued to increase in the 1950s, but women were again mostly limited to what were considered “women’s jobs,” such as teaching, clerical work, domestic labor, and being store clerks. As the U.S. de-industrialized and its service sector grew, many middle-class white women worked as typists and secretaries, who were unable to rise higher in employment ranks due to gender discrimination.

*A secretary and her boss, an industrial designer, New York City, 1950*

Furthermore, most women were forced to quit these jobs when they were married and certainly if they were pregnant. Even teachers were not allowed to continue working in a classroom once they were "showing." Opportunities for African-American women continued to be very limited so that many could only work as domestic laborers, though some were schoolteachers and, in the North, clerical workers.

After receiving a college degree in French Literature and beginning a career as a photojournalist, Jackie Kennedy married John F. Kennedy in 1953, at the age of 24. After she was married she quit her job to stay home. She would go on to be the First Lady of the United States.

Women faced huge social pressures to marry young (late teens or early 20s) and have a big family. This often precluded women from attending college. It was more socially acceptable to get married than to continue education. Women who could attend college were expected to go only to find a husband, not a career path. Women were pressured to be stay-at-home mothers if their families could afford it. Most minority families could not afford this. Single mothers were often shunned. In fact their was immense pressure to be only one type of family and only one type of woman. Cold War propaganda transmitted the idea that strong nuclear families would help the U.S. beat the USSR. In fact, not only were women marrying younger than before, they were having babies right away and continued to for decades. From 1940 to 1960, the number of families with three children doubled and the number of families having a fourth child quadrupled. This is what is called the "Baby Boom" and the generation of children born during that era are known as the "baby boomers" or just "boomers."

The Cleavers were the idealized American family on the show Leave it to Beaver. The father worked as a professional while the mother stayed home to care for her husband and two mischievous but respectful and obedient sons.

The media portrayed domesticity as the ideal for women and implied directly and indirectly that the role of a housewife was the only truly fulfilling role for women. Television shows and women’s magazines claimed that women were most responsible for their children and husband’s happiness and well-being. Women were told to keep their houses and appearances flawless. Television shows like Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best portrayed prescribed gender roles and idealized family happiness.

With the spread of the suburbs, gender roles were reinforced still further. Women and children moved into suburban homes while men often commuted to offices in the city centers. Life in suburbia encouraged conformity; there was pressure to “keep up with the Joneses” with material purchases (e.g., cars, appliances, etc.). New forms of media, in particular, the television, promoted consumer culture, with household products being strongly marketed to women.

Look at these images that were printed in popular magazines in the 1950s. According to these images, what do you think life was like for suburban women in the 1950s?

In the following activity you will investigate and attempt to answer the following questions:

Is the image of the happy 1950s housewife accurate? Why or why not?