Women in the 1950 s Essential Question What

Women in the 1950 s Essential Question: What was life like for suburban women in the 1950 s?

WWII employment for women • Large demand for labor • New job opportunities for women • 300, 000 served in the military Women’s Auxiliary Corps laboratory technician conducts an experiment, Fort Jackson State Hospital, 1944 Aircraft engine technician and senior supervisor, Naval Air Base, 1942 2

Post-WWII employment • Replaced by veterans • Employment rates increased for women • Limited opp. for Af-Am women A secretary and her boss, an industrial designer, New York City, 1950 3

Social pressures • Early marriage • Childbearing • Purpose of college? • Stay-at-home motherhood • Nuclear family 4 Kennedy wedding, Jacqueline throwing the bouquet, 1953

Births The Baby Boom Year 5

Media portrayals of gender • Ideal of domesticity • A woman’s role in the family • Flawless house • Leave it to Beaver A photo of the Cleaver family from Leave it to Beaver, a popular TV show in the 1950 s-60 s 6

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Suburbia, home of the “happy housewife” • G. I. Bill • Mass-produced, affordable homes • Great Migration and “white flight” Levittown track homes of the 1950 s 8

Household products marketed to women A 1950 s ad for a cleaning product A 1950 s ad for an electric iron 9

Central Historical Question Is the image of the happy 1950 s housewife accurate?

Discussion Questions 1) Were housewives happy with their lives? 2) Were women in the 1950 s just staying at home? 3) Documents A and B say women were staying at home; but Documents C and D say that women were politically involved and even working. Who should we believe? 4) Do you think African-American, Latina, Asian American, and women from other minority groups had similar experiences to those depicted in these documents? Why or why not?