[Music] if the image of a woman during World War Two was rosie the riveter the 1950s female idea became Susie homemaker the same women who were often encouraged to work on the factories to support the war effort we're now urged to demonstrate their patriotism by staying home if you look at the difference between the way the magazines portrayed women in the 40s and magazines portrayed women in the 50s you can see a huge propaganda effort took place to convince women that their place was in the home that they didn't want to wear overalls that really
you were much more fulfilled if you could cook a good dinner than if you could make a wing on an airplane you have no idea how much I've got to do remember I haven't got your dream kitchen to make things easier this whole kitchen was designed for efficiency and convenience experts like noted pediatrician and author dr. Benjamin Spock and popular advice columnist Ann Landers encouraged this homemaker image advising women to put their children and husbands first even at the expense of their own needs yet even as many mothers prided themselves and their families the number
of women working outside the home rose steadily as they took jobs to help maintain their families standard of living soon both married and unmarried women were a significant part of the labor pool in the 1950s 33 percent of the workforce is female women who did not work outside the home often volunteered in their places of worship and in their charitable organizations there they learned the political and organizational skills that would become critical as they joined with working women to mastermind the women's movements of the 60s and 70s [Music] you
