The Return of the 1950's Housewife

I think your logic is flawed. I don't think SAHM's were ever in danger of extinction. Why do you think we have these "Housewives of Whatever County" shows. These women were bred in this "Stepford Wives" society, were that is their main goal and aspiration. Today, there is a great influx of young professional people and families to the cities, not the burbs.

I in no way would be happy staying at home all day alone with my children "keeping house". Without my second shift job to go to, be around other adults, use my knowledge to help others, and lead a well rounded life I'd go crazy.

I pride myself on being a great "mother", "wife" AND "worker" and I am better at them all and happier doing them all any one alone. I also enjoy my garden, sewing, scrapbooking, and doing crafts. But I also know that our home is happier with sharing the work load.

It's great we have the choice, but don't sing the praises of one mom's choice while downing the other. I don't "leave my family" in search of a dime. Just like my husband doesn't "leave our family" to work during the day.

I also think the 1950's housewife is a fairly romanticized idol to emulate. Don't forget the 1950's weren't all pinstripes and gooseberries (AKA hunky dorrey). We had just come out of a war, where the women were in the workplace and being single parents while their husbands were around the world. Once the men returned they "forced" the women back into the kitchen because they couldn't handle the major social changes and they were back to fill the jobs. It paved the way for the 1960's and 1970's... even in the 70's and early 80's women had very few "rights" in the home and many were subject of domestic violence and had no way out because they weren't "allowed" to work outside the home.

It's great if you have a choice... but please don't send the wrong messages to our girls that aspirations of being a "Bree VanDeCamp-Hodge" are all it takes to be happy in this world. I see too many SAHM's with no skill sets homeless, jobless, after the marriage falls apart. In the 1950's divorce was a faux-pas.

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I am with you liberation is all about choice, I am one of those women that chose to be a housewife. I love it and find pride in keeping my home tidy, playing with my son, cooking and baking. This summer I hope to plant a garden for the first time.

Pierrette from Wiseman Conspiracy

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I expect to see more mothers starting to garden, can and sew while the job market is tight. It would not be surprising to see them make the decision to keep it up when offered opportunities to go back to work. They may find that they make it just fine on one salary once fast food and alternative methods of entertainment are discovered.

Jan from http://www.unique-baby-gear-ideas.com/

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I'm glad stay at home mothering is making a comeback. As one of my coworkers always says..."feminists ruined my life!" I don't mind going to work...but when you have to be super woman to pay the bills, raise the kids, and take care of the house, something suffers somewhere. Either my kids don't get enough attention, I work myself to exaution, or can't pay the bills. As a mom I really think our first priority should always be taking care of the family. That doesn't make us the weaker species...it is just our part of the way life works. I believe in a womans right to choose to work, but I hate that I HAVE to when I have so many other responsibilities.

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Oh good grief. I work and I still manage to spend time with my kids, cook, bake, clean my house and the rest, Give it a rest already. Stop trying to make us working moms out to be selfish women. Most of us have a good reason to work (like we really love our jobs!) and we are also fantastic moms.

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I don't see where anyone is denigrating working moms. I don't see anyone here saying that the choices you made are bad ones. I see people saying that it's nice that finally - yes FINALLY - some people are realizing that being a stay-at-home-mom, and taking pride in the work and talent that is involved, is just as valid as choosing to go to work, and using the unique talents that are involved there.

For too long, the "feminist" position that women should be "equal" to men has put us ladies in a bind. Not only are we expected to do better than men in the workplace, many of us have the desire to make a home for our husbands and children.. and consequently, forced to do both. And for too long, those of us who chose that path (sahm) were looked down upon - by colleagues and media alike - because we were "selling out", "giving in to men" or "perpetuating a stereotype".

And now, with cultures changing again, it appears that being a SAHM may finally get the same respect that working moms get.

Frankly, I'm tired of being called "Stepford" by my working counterparts. I have never, ever accused a working mom of anything but providing for herself and her family, and yet, nearly every time I turn around, I get this "Stepford" crap.

It's about time that we're all seen as equally and unique as we are: moms who are doing the best we can with the choices that we make.

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I'm in my late 20's, engaged, and the owner of a staffing company. I look forward to running my company for a few more years then taking my 30's "off" to raise our family. I see it as my greatest achievement to be able to stop working full time in order to raise my family and I am looking forward to it. I feel so grateful that I live in an age where I have the choice, and the opportunity to work professionally and then to change paths when I am ready. My mother had to work full time and I saw how difficult it was for her to try to take care of us and work all day. I knew I never wanted that; for me or my family. I know many other educated, professional women my age with similar career plans. They too saw their mothers try to do it all and struggle through it.

I think the next big conversation is going to be how to tap into the talent pool of stay at home moms. With so much talent moving out of traditional 9 - 5 jobs, smart companies are going to need to figure out how to provide virtual / flexible work opportunities for these women.

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i am 25 years old and i have 3 children my partner works full time and i am your typical stay at home mum , i have the satisfaction of knowing the house is spotless and a fresh home made meal is waiting for him when he gets back . i find it really rewarding and it makes me feel that i too am contributing .xx

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I agree that the logic is flawed. There is nothing healthy or easy about the 50s "nuclear family" model that bred the 1950s housewife. Girls growing up in that time period were basically socialized that they were subhuman in a patriarchal society. If you read some of the texts that were taught in schools at that time in such classes as health and home economics (classes that were segregated by gender might I add) you would be sick. They were taught to be pretty servants. The 50s housewife was fueled on alcohol, vicodin, and vibrators, due to a lack of satisfaction and fulfillment emotionally, intellectually, and sexually.
That being said, I want to clarify that this rant is not coming from a feminist, I think one radical glorification of a sex is just as bad as another and that egalitarian is what we should strive for in our society. The 50s are a prime example that it’s never just one of the sexes that suffers when equality is absent. The 50s were just as hard on men as it was on women, an ungodly amount of pressure was put on them as sole provider, protector, and leader of the house. Further, due to the social mores that created such harsh boundaries of the concept of “masculinity” they were not allowed to lean on anyone for support, not even their wives, lest they be considered weak and effeminate. Granted, if the truth-be-told, their wives would probably have been little help anyway since they were too busy being pretty little drugged up, sugar coated balls of depression. Also, the fact that being considered feminine was such a huge social faux pas or the idea that a man should never be out bread-winner’ed by his wife should give you a taste of the misogyny of the era and make you stop and think right there.
I think the phenomena of this dewy-eyed nostalgia for the 50s should be called “the grass is greener effect” everyone is feeling hard times and wants to look to the “good ‘ol days” which really spawns from an obsession with the “romanticism” and novelty of the 50s paired with a lack of education of the reality of the matter.
So to conclude a very long rant (my apologies,) to make the statement and to celebrate the concept that the women of today want to become the housewives of the50s is equally as appalling as it is saddening. Women of today who choose to become knowledgeable in crafts, trades, and DIY should not be paralleled with the 50s housewife because she was not given that choice to aspire, she was taught to be subservient, not independent. Yes, we should celebrate choice but I fail to see how giving kudos to a lifestyle that inhibited choice does that. There is a reason our mothers and grandmothers rebelled against this life, so for goodness sake people let’s not take one step forward and two steps back.

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