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The cost of living might be higher but few families in the '50s had to have houses with 2-3 bathrooms, game rooms with big screen TVs, master suites with their own baths and walk-in closets full of clothing they don't need, chef kitchens with marble counter tops and two cars in the garage. Way too many people today want too much. So if you want to go back to having women in "traditional" housewife roles be prepared to take it all. Don't expect to have your big boy toys alone with your traditional life style. The cost of living might be higher but so is the list of 'must haves' of family life.
Or go out to the mall, get their nails and hair done, and buy a new $$$ outfit and shoes, all for the sake of doing so.
Presumably someone said this already - and I'm surprised you need to be told - but the problem was that women felt stifled, trapped, reduced to being supporting cast as second-case citizens. And that they didn't have the freedom of many other options.
Work in the home was a heck of a lot more time consuming in the 1950s than today. Examples:
- scrub tub, soaker tub and ringer washing machines which had to filled and drained manually. Just imagine the time needed to put each piece of washing through the ringer, particularly diapers. No disposable diapers back then.
- each piece of laundry had to be hung manually on the clothes line and then later removed.
- almost every piece of laundry had to be ironed - no permanent press back then so almost everything was wrinkled.
- no microwave ovens and meals were mostly made from scratch
Yes! I am talented and hardworking. I am an asset to whomever I am working for. I LIKE to work. My mother liked working.
But don't insinuate that I would be happier if I had to squeeze into a girdle, make a roast every Tuesday, have a drink waiting fur hubby when he gets home, be satisfied with the money I am given for all family needs, and depend on my husband to provide everything. T
And if Phyllis Shaley couldn't keep in line there was alway Marabell Morgan. Some of the companies in Houston had her down to speak to the wives luncheon.
The cost of living might be higher but few families in the '50s had to have houses with 2-3 bathrooms, game rooms with big screen TVs, master suites with their own baths and walk-in closets full of clothing they don't need, chef kitchens with marble counter tops and two cars in the garage. Way too many people today want too much. So if you want to go back to having women in "traditional" housewife roles be prepared to take it all. Don't expect to have your big boy toys alone with your traditional life style. The cost of living might be higher but so is the list of 'must haves' of family life.
Even without all of those luxuries, it’s still tough to make it on one salary (unless we’re taking a good salary). Healthcare costs, retirement savings, college savings, the cost of caring for elderly parents, and basic housing costs (even when indexed for inflation) are significantly higher.
Work in the home was a heck of a lot more time consuming in the 1950s than today. Examples:
- scrub tub, soaker tub and ringer washing machines which had to filled and drained manually. Just imagine the time needed to put each piece of washing through the ringer, particularly diapers. No disposable diapers back then.
- each piece of laundry had to be hung manually on the clothes line and then later removed.
- almost every piece of laundry had to be ironed - no permanent press back then so almost everything was wrinkled.
- no microwave ovens and meals were mostly made from scratch
Years ago -- I think in the 70's I remember hearing someone talk about all the advances or conveniences we have made doing chores in the home but what has happened is it hasn't given us more free time because we end up filling in that time and in some ways we have more going on. Right now as I'm prepping dinner, typing on the computer, doing laundry and the roomba is going (and I am a stay at home person) I get what he is saying. In the olden days right now I'd be tending to dinner and only dinner.
They stayed at home back in those days because they could. Nowadays most of them trudge off to work just like the men do because they don't have any other choice. Welcome to the modern day cotton fields ladies.
They stayed at home back in those days because they could. Nowadays most of them trudge off to work just like the men do because they don't have any other choice. Welcome to the modern day cotton fields ladies.
My mother went off to school while raising five children. Got her LLB and LLM and eventually become the only bread winner when our father died rather young. And she did good...VP and well quoted US expert on the income tax. And that went on in the 50s mostly. By the 60s mom was a top dog...and it got easier as each of the kids moved out.
In the 50s and 60s there was more to do at home than there is today. A lot of things were becoming "automated" though so it was getting boring and unrewarding to stay at home.
Used to be, men working the family farm or worked in a factory and the wife worked in the home. Except for the rich where the wife got an education and got to pursue her own interests in whatever she wanted to do--the arts, volunteer jobs.
But the average woman by 1970 didn't have much to do if she stayed home. Move the dust around? Press a button on the washing machine? Press a button on the dryer?
Sure, some women didn't mind watching tv all day long, but most women wanted to do something that they were interested in. They wanted to choose something other than housework and watching tv--women have interests too. It was called "women's lib"--they were liberated from being household slaves and they could work at whatever sort of job interested them. It wasn't about money until later on.
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