1950's Housewife

Marjorie Husted, the creator of Betty Crocker stated that “Good things baked in the kitchen will keep romance for longer than bright lipstick.”

Definition: Housewife

A housewife is a woman whose main occupation is running or managing the family's home—caring for and educating her children, cooking and storing food, buying goods the family needs in day to day life, cleaning and maintaining the home, making clothes for the family, etc.—and who is generally not employed outside the home. Merriam Webster describes a housewife as a married woman who is in charge of her household. The term may sometimes be used in contrast to a career woman.

 

Modern society

In the 19th century more and more women in industrialising countries stopped being homemakers and began to do jobs that men usually did. At this time many big factories were set up, first in England then in other European countries and the United States. Many thousands of young women went to work in factories.

Other women, like Florence Nightingale, decided to go against the social norm, and partake in harder, money earning professions, even if they were rich and therefore did not need to work. In most families where there was a husband and wife, the social norm dictated that it was the job of the husband to earn money and the job of the woman to be the "housewife" (homemaker). Women were often very proud to be a good homemaker and have their house and children respectably taken care of.

 

In the early 20th century the two world wars (World War I, 1914–18, and WWII, 1939-45) were fought by men from many countries. While the men were at war, their wives went to work to keep the countries running. Women, who were also homemakers, worked in factories, businesses and farms. At the end of both wars, many men had died, others had returned injured and some men were able to return to their previous positions. However the wars had taught them different, resulting in more employability. As a result, women kept doing many of the jobs they had commenced during the wars.

By the 1960s in western countries, it was becoming more accepted for a woman to work and be a "career girl" until the woman got married, when she should stop work and be a "housewife". Some jobs like teaching were only done by unmarried women. Many western women in the 1970s believed that this was not treating men and women equally and that women should do whatever job they were able to do, whether they were married or not.

 

At this time, women were becoming more educated. As a result of this increased education, some women were able to earn more than their husbands, so the husband would remain at home to raise their young children. This was not commonplace.

In the late 20th century, it became harder for a family to live on a single wage. Subsequently, many women were required to return to work following the birth of their children however often they continue the "homemaker" role within the family. It is becoming more commonplace for the husband and wife to be employed in paid work and both share in the "housework" and caring for the children. In other families, there is still a traditional idea that housework is only a woman's job, so that when a couple get home from work, it is only the wife who works in the house, while the man takes a rest after his day's work.

Read: http://americanmemoryofthe1950shousewif.bgsu.wikispaces.net/Nostalgic+Memories