Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1990 - 21

in all levels of civilian work. The ideal was
a woman who could do a man's job ouride rhe home in addirion ro keeping her
home running smoorhly. She should have
a posirive spirir, a preny face and figure
and, preferably, a man in rhe armed services. "Rosie rhe Riverer," a crearion of
rhe media, became a narional heroine.
Women's c10rhing became urilirarian. \X!hile nor acrually uniforms, mosr of
rhe styles were derived from masculine
military silhouenes. They were railored,
broad shouldered and somerimes fearured panrs. Their hars, roo, were reminiscenr of rhe milirary.
A media blirz promoted rhe new

wirh rremendous comperence and ability,
raking on men's jobs and doing them very
well. However, rhe unsrared assumption
in America ar rhe rime was rhat women,
like men, would go back ro rheir rradirional roles once again afrer rhe war was
over. When rhe War ended, many women
did happily leave their jobs ro focus on
their marriages and homes. However,
many women were less con rent ro do so.
In 1944 a \X!omen's Bureau srudy showed
rhar 8000 of working women wished ro
conrinue working afrer rhe war was over.
As soon as rhe war ended, however, cutbacks began among the women workers,
particularly married women workers. So

Romanric love and marriage were
not only glorified, they were repeatedly
projected as the only way women could
be fulfilled and find happiness. In fact,
sociologists and psychologists of the period indicated that women's problems and
society's problems were largely caused by
the fact that recenrly women had been
rrying ro copy men. They wenr on ro suggest that society's problems could be
solved if women wenr back ro rhe home.
In a feature article on American women
in the Christmas 1956 issue of Lift magazine, the psychologist authors indicated
rhat career women simply were maladjusted. They were not accepring of the

ideal. An advertisemenr for Hoover vacuu m cleaners featured a woman wi th her
sleeves rolled up stating, "Nobody's going
ro call me a softie l " An advertisement for
Pond's lotion highlighted a young
woman, Ann Nieson, doing a man's job
in an explosives factory. (The ad also
poinred out that she was engaged ro a
man in the armed forces, piCturing both
said fiance and the engagement ring.)
The cover of the February 1943 Ladies
HOllie jo II rl/a! featured a mother and
daughter cheerfully changing the tire on
their car. Publications of the \X!omen's
Armv Corps promored rhe idea of
women as capable. One publication, for
instance, listed all the kinds of jobs that
\X'ACs were doing and then stated,
"Above all, WACs do every job, little or
big, with a thrilling competence that
awakens respect in the eyes of even the
ablest G I. '"
Indeed. ir was generally acknowledged thar women rose to rhe occasion

rhe women capable of "doing a man's job"
in the '40s were encouraged ro go back ro
rheir homes and were offered a new feminine silhouene for the '50s.

feminine role. The authors wenr on to
suggest that families whose mothers or
wives worked suffered psychological
damage and that the woman herself had
ro be unhappy. ",
The ideal, then, was a successful
homemaker, a woman who could produce an immaculate home and family
with apparenr effortlessness. In addition,
she should always look her best.
Housewives were portrayed merrily doing
thei r chores in pretty dresses, hose and
high-heeled poi nred-roe shoes.
The traditional feminine ideal was
visually affirmed by "the new look" of the
Fifties: longer fuller skirrs, tiny waists and
accen ruated busts. lew corserry, now
called girdles, accentuated the hour-glass
silhouette, a voluptuous female shape
clearly capable of child bearing. Ot since
the Vicrorian era had women been so
domesticated or their clothing so confin-

The 1950s: The
Happy Housewife
The '50s brought a new ideal. "Rosie the
Riveter" was replaced by what Berry
Friedan later called "The Happy Heroine
Housewife." ivlagazines, television, billboards and films all promoted the idea of
women as homemakers and as mothers of
ever-increasing numbers of children.
By 1950 more girls between 15 and
19 vears of age were marrying than
women in any other age group. This was
the lowest age in the nation's history.
One-half of all women were married b v
the age of 20. After marriage, they wer'e
twice as likely ro have more than three
children than women had been 20 years
earlier. .,

Ing.

However, unlike the Vicrorian era, in
T D & T

1990 FALL

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1990