Women’s roles were greatly changed in the 1950s, with the men coming back from war and taking their jobs back. During World War II,women had taken men’s jobs while they had been away at war. After the war, many women wanted to keep their jobs. Many became wives and mothers as the men came back from the war. In 1957, 70% of working women held clerical positions, assembly lines or service jobs. 12 % held a profession and 6% held management positions. Those that held professional jobs worked as nurses and teachers. They found themselves taking care of the house and of their children.
New appliances that were being made allowed women to spend less time in their house. Women could then explore other interests besides home and family, such as going to college.
The number of girls who entered college dropped during the 50s. Many women left college early to marry after the war and other women who did stay were not planning on working toward a job. Some people became worried that because the women weren’t at home all the time, they thought that children might be being deprived of a parent. Social commentators said that because of this, women were in fact endangering the family by not being there for their children and husbands. The husband wasn’t always at home all the time either because he might have been away in the city. Life went on regardless with the wives buying all the purchases at home and making all the family’s finances. The husbands bought the groceries and because he had the car he could also drive he children around as well. Since the husbands were away at work all the time the wives would have to do a lot of the manual work around the house. These changes in the home may not have been considered as positive but they were for the women.
thechangingrolesofwomen 