The 1950s
The G.I. Bill
• Prioritized jobs for
veterans
• 4 million veterans used
low-interest loans &
mortgages
• College or job training
paid by government
• 1947 = Over 50% of
college students are
WW2 vets
The Affluent Society
• 1960 = 60% of US families
owned homes, 75% owned
cars, 87% owned 1 TV
• 1950 = Diner’s Club issued first
credit card
Life in the Suburbs
• 58 million cars
purchased in 1950s
• 85% of the 13 million
new homes built in the
1950s located in
suburbs
• Red Lining,
restrictive
covenants, & loan
denials blocked
African Americans
from buying homes
in white suburbs
Ticky Tacky Houses
“A multitude of uniform,
unidentifiable houses, lined
up inflexibly, at uniform
distances, on uniform roads,
in a treeless communal waste,
inhabited by people of the
same class, the same income,
the same age group,
witnessing the same
television performances,
eating the same tasteless
prefabricated foods, from the
same freezers, conforming to
in every outward and inward
respect to a common mold.”
--Lewis Mumford, The City in
History, 1961
Levittown, New York
Consumerism & Conformity
• 1/7 of income spent on
entertainment
• 1946 = 1 out of 18,000
homes had 1 TV vs.
1960 = Almost 9 out of 10
homes had 1 TV
• Advertising created
brand consciousness
• TV celebrated conformity,
family shows, teen idols,
perfect mothers
Beauty Standards
• Products marketed to “keep
your husband”
• 1956 = Average weight for
women is 15 pounds lighter
than 1926 average weight
• 1956 = $1.3 billion spent on
cosmetics, $660 million on
beauty treatments, $400
million on soap and electric
grooming, $65 million on
“reducing”
Domesticity
• The Baby Boom
Generation = 76 million
born between 1946 –
1964
• By 1960, 1/3 of U.S.
population were
children under 14
• Dr. Spock, Common
Sense Book of Baby &
Child, 1946
Marriage in Pop Culture
“Catering to his comfort will
provide you with immense
personal satisfaction; don’t
complain if he’s home late
for dinner or stays out all
night; don’t ask him
questions about his actions
or question his judgment; a
good wife always knows
her place.”
--Housekeeping Monthly,
“The Good Wife’s Guide,”
1955
1950s Marriage Mania
• By 1951 = 69% of all US
women were married
• 1 in 3 wed by 19
• By 1957 = 14 million
girls engaged by 17
Single Women in the 1950s
• “Lone Female” studied by
writers & psychiatrists
• Hostility & suspicion
directed towards single
women & working women
• 1955 = Over 300 promarriage books published
for women
Home Economics Textbook, 1956
• Have dinner ready: Plan ahead, even the night before, to
have a delicious meal—on time. This is a way of letting
him know that you have been thinking about him and
are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry
when they come home!
• Minimize the noise: At the time of his arrival, eliminate
all noise of washer, dryer, dishwasher or vacuum. Try to
encourage the children to be quiet. Have them properly
dressed to give their greetings.
• Make him comfortable: Have him lean back in a
comfortable chair or suggest he lie down in the
bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.
Arrange his pillow…speak in a low soothing and pleasant
voice.
Urban Hotels for Single Women
• High rise, all-girl hotels
& boarding houses
• NYC’s Barbizon Hotel
for Women used by
movie stars Grace
Kelly, Liza Minnelli,
writers Gael Greene,
Sylvia Plath
• Gael Greene, New York
Post, 1958, claimed
hotels evoked fears of
spinsterhood
Single Pregnancy in the 1950s
• 1944 – 1955 = 80% increase in # of white
babies up for adoption
• All abortion illegal in 1950s: 800 – 1,000
women died each year
• Hospital abortion committee required 2
letters diagnosing a woman as
psychologically impaired
• Options = Quick marriage, illegal/unsafe
abortion, “Home for Wayward Girls” before
adoption
• Race determined options of a single mother
Sexuality in the 1950s
• Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s
Studies on Sex in
Marriage, 1948 & 1953
• Surveys uncovered premarital sex,
masturbation, affairs, &
homosexuality
• Attitudes towards
marital sex no longer
about procreation
• Promoted female
sexuality as normal
Giving Birth in the 1950s
• Obstetricians almost
always male
• No lamaze, few midwives
• Women had little
knowledge of anesthesia,
c-sections,
hysterectomies
• Doctors hostile to
breastfeeding; 25%
breastfed from 1940 1970
Unhappiness of 1950s Housewives
• 51 – 56 hours of weekly
housekeeping (unpaid labor)
• Alcoholism, domestic violence
ignored by police
• “Mother’s Little Helper” used
for housework
• 1/4 - 1/3 of couples married in
1950s would eventually divorce
• Strict gender roles pressured
women to stay out of the
workforce
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, 1963
• Exposed the plight of
housewives, “The
Problem With No
Name”
• Sold more than 1
million copies
• Re-launched the
Feminist Movement