1. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8 DO NOW Look at the lyrics to Maldiva Reynold’s song “Little Boxes” Answer the questions Today's Agenda 1.DO NOW 2.Women in 1950s notes 3.Feminine Mystique 4.Mona Lisa’s Smile Today's Objective Explain the role women had in the 1950s in order to analyze the idea of conformity and the role of women as housewives.

2. Women in the 1950s

3. WWII EMPLOYMENT FOR WOMEN 3  WWII brought great economic growth to US  Booming economy  demand for labor  new job opportunities for women and minorities  Women worked in new jobs in the war industry or filled in for their husbands.

4. POST-WWII EMPLOYMENT A secretary and her boss, an industrial designer, New York City, 1950  Women were expected to vacate the jobs they had worked for the returning male veterans  Employment rates increased for women but only in “women’s jobs” o Teaching o Clerical work o Domestic labor o Store clerks o Typists o Secretaries  Opportunities for African American women also limited- domestic laborers

5. SOCIAL PRESSURES Kennedy wedding, Jacqueline throwing the bouquet, 1953 Women were pressured to marry young (late teens, early 20s) Have a big family IF you went to college, it was to find a husband, not a career path Be stay-at-home mothers (white women could afford this more than minorities) Single mothers – shunned Cold War Propaganda- strong nuclear families would help the US beat the USSR

6. BABY BOOM Women were marrying early and having babies right away 1940-1960- number of families with three children doubled, and the number of families having a fourth child quadrupled. 6

7. THE BABY BOOM Year Births

8. Suburbia, home of the “happy housewife” Levittown track homes of the 1950s Levittown- first mass-produced suburb (1951) Affordable- many vets purchased because of GI Bill

9. Suburbia, home of the “happy housewife” Levittown track homes of the 1950s Mass production- uniformity of design Millions of African Americans moved out of the South and into NE, Mid-west and Western cities during the Great Migration causing “White flight” to the suburbs

10. HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS MARKETED TO WOMEN A 1950s ad for an electric iron  pressure to keep up with the Joneses with material purchases  TV and print ads promoted consumer culture, strongly targeting women.

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16. 16 THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE http://video.p bs.org/video/2 330963851/

17. DOCUMENT ANALYSIS In your groups complete the graphic organizer analyzing the excerpt from the Feminine Mystic and answer the questions provided.