Women's 1950's Roles

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Throughout history, the extent of authority that rightfully belongs to women has served a controversial topic among Americans from coast to coast. Just when America began feeling the stabilization of the economy after recovering from the depression, it soon endured another significant change.  With the World War II draft in progress, thousands of men would soon leave the workplace and with the nation at war, millions of dollars would now become part of the war effort.  During World War II, women were employed in large numbers in factory jobs to replace men in the military.  The intent, however, was for women to return to traditional pursuits after the war ended and men returned home.  When it finally did end, there was a significant drop in female workforce participation and the roles of women became strained for most of the 1950s. Women’s’ positions in post war America were being propelled out of the workplace and domesticated as attributable to the influence of pop culture and propaganda, the economic change within the post war society, and the ever-increasing baby boom.  Nevertheless the growing reality that the idyllic nuclear family was virtually unattainable had surfaced.

        During World War II, women transitioned from the traditional role of simply the caregiver of the home to both the caregiver and provider.   All women were encouraged by organized propaganda campaigns to become more economical during the war, urged to take everyday cutbacks that would ultimately help contribute to war bonds and raise both money and morale for the war effort through sacrifice.  Sacrifice was stressed during World War II, and with the birth of “Rosie the Riveter,” many women felt the need to make that sacrifice.  Rosie the Riveter wasn’t just an average women, she was able to accomplish and invent things the average housewife could not while still remaining glamorous.  She symbolized change in America and the patriotic duty to work.  Even if women did not get paid for their labor, it was understood that working was a necessary cost to winning the war.  From 1910 until about 1940, women's employment rate was as low as 13%. By June of 1942, females held 55% of all jobs, as many as 19 million women were employed by 1945.( They worked in fields that seemed only suitable for men prior to the war. Such positions included all from manufacturers of heavy machinery to welders in shipyards.  During World War II, the numbers continued to grow with the help of propaganda posters pressuring more and more women to join the war effort; however, towards the end of the war, fear continued to grow within America of post war unemployment (Rosie the Riveter: Women Working During World War II ).

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Men were quick to snag jobs back from women upon their return from war. All of the progress women made and help they contributed was soon forgotten, and almost all women were laid off and replaced by men. It has been reported that

“Studies of postwar culture found that government propaganda, popular magazines, and films reinforced traditional concepts of femininity and instructed women to subordinate their interests to those of returning male veterans” (Meyerowitz 1994).

This led to the creation of the “ideal housewife” and nuclear family.  After years of gaining acceptance in the workforce, being told it ...

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