After stumbling into a section of youtube where people live a day in the lives of people past I have decided that the American 1950's woman needs more than a few accolades. Every woman excepting the rich had to do all that work by themselves! The cleaning, endless chores , prepping for 3 meals a day. Even more if they had to work outside the home. Toss in some kids and I just do not know how they managed. Nobody understands how gruelling being a full time housewife is until all duties are written out. Thanks to The Vintage Housewife for doing that. She made a 7 page list of chores that are organized by room. It is as pretty as it is daunting. The printable Checklist is very much appreciated.
 |
| This isnt the chorelist, don't scoff yet. |
It's nice that we get to romanticize these eras, fawn over pictures of elegantly styled women and dashing men. It's however always bemusing to see people claim that the 50's were a better time. For whom? There's charm in the ideal that was the media representation of families in the era, but we should all know better than to get carried away with ideals. The woman was the engine of her household, to have a day where you lay in without any grievious physical injury was for the world to literally stop for your family. Women often took ''uppers'' for energy to keep up with this lifestyle. Uppers which are stimulants like amphetamine were also prescribed for weight loss. To neglect your husband was unthinkable, foisting on the chores of the household and childcare on the man an abomination. Parenting was of course almost solely your job description too.
 |
| Why do we never talk about this drug epidemic? |
Working outside the home wasn't forbidden (if you weren't a fundamentalist that is) but it wasn't exactly encouraged. So many women's dreams compressed by the deceptively soft pressure that is societal dissaproval, even though working out of the home wasn't illegal. Working women were paid less and considered inferior beings in the workplace. Barely any women went to the university even though it was legal. A time of opression for women, doubly so for Black women who had to navigate racism in addition. An important marker of a better time is the ability to choose however we wish to live. We must always remember that the best time to be alive, is today.
**Material on America's First Epidemic https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2377281/
No comments
Post a Comment