I fully believe that nathan was right about middle class women working being a major element in the de-valueing of labour. As we can see this used to be something only done by communist pinkos!
from:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/p_mrs.html Mrs. America: Women's Roles in the 1950s
American society in the 1950s was geared toward the family. Marriage and children were part of the national agenda. And the Cold War was in part a culture war, with the American family at the center of the struggle.
A Propaganda War
Embedded in the propaganda of the time was the idea that the nuclear family was what made Americans superior to the Communists. American propaganda showed the horrors of Communism in the lives of Russian women. They were shown dressed in gunnysacks, as they toiled in drab factories while their children were placed in cold, anonymous day care centers. In contrast to the "evils" of Communism, an image was promoted of American women, with their feminine hairdos and delicate dresses, tending to the hearth and home as they enjoyed the fruits of capitalism, democracy, and freedom.
The "M.R.S." Degree
In the 1950s, women felt tremendous societal pressure to focus their aspirations on a wedding ring. The U.S. marriage rate was at an all-time high and couples were tying the knot, on average, younger than ever before. Getting married right out of high school or while in college was considered the norm. A common stereotype was that women went to college to get a "Mrs." (pronounced M.R.S.) degree, meaning a husband. Although women had other aspirations in life, the dominant theme promoted in the culture and media at the time was that a husband was far more important for a young woman than a college degree. Despite the fact that employment rates also rose for women during this period, the media tended to focus on a woman's role in the home. If a woman wasn't engaged or married by her early twenties, she was in danger of becoming an "old maid."
Single and Pregnant
If remaining single in American society was considered undesirable, being single and pregnant was totally unacceptable, especially for white women. Girls who "got in trouble" were forced to drop out of school, and often sent away to distant relatives or homes for wayward girls. Shunned by society for the duration of their pregnancy, unwed mothers paid a huge price for premarital sex. In reality young women were engaging in premarital sex in spite of the societal pressure to remain virgins. (This made them believe that) There was a growing need for easy, safe, effective, reliable and female-controlled contraceptives.
Large Families
Not only did most married women walk down the aisle by age 19; they also tended to start families right away. A majority of brides were pregnant within seven months of their wedding, and they didn't just stop at one child. Large families were typical. From 1940 to 1960, the number of families with three children doubled and the number of families having a fourth child quadrupled.
Stay-at-Home Moms
This was also the era of the "happy homemaker." For young mothers in the 1950s, domesticity was idealized in the media, and women were encouraged to stay at home if the family could afford it. Women who chose to work when they didn't need the paycheck were often considered selfish, putting themselves before the needs of their family.
Decades of Childbearing
But even for happy homemakers, pressures were mounting. In a departure from previous generations, it was no longer acceptable for a wife to shut her husband out of the bedroom. Starting in the 1950s sex was viewed as a key component of a healthy and loving marriage. (From some peoples perception) Without an effective female-controlled contraceptive, young wives faced three decades of childbearing before they reached menopause.
The Pill Welcomed
(So Unfortunately) By the late 1950s, (many of the) both single and married American women were ready and waiting for a new and improved form of birth control. When the Pill was introduced, (some of) the social factors affecting women's reproductive lives contributed significantly to the warm reception women across the country gave the Pill.
Needless to say looking back on the changes in society, the pill is curse on humanity. The solutions for women to not be treated like slaves are to be solved by....I can't think of the answer at the moment, I will get back to you later.
So than In 1970, [Supreme Court Justice] Lewis Powell wrote a fateful memo to the National Chamber of Commerce saying that all of our best students are becoming anti-business because of the Vietnam War, and that we needed to do something about it. Powell's agenda included getting wealthy conservatives to set up professorships, setting up institutes on and off campus where intellectuals would write books from a conservative business perspective, and setting up think tanks. He outlined the whole thing in 1970. They set up the Heritage Foundation in 1973, and the Manhattan Institute after that. [There are many others, including the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institute at Stanford, which date from the 1940s.]
And now, as the New York Times Magazine quoted Paul Weyrich, who started the Heritage Foundation, they have 1,500 conservative radio talk show hosts. They have a huge, very good operation, and they understand their own moral system. They understand what unites conservatives, and they understand how to talk about it, and they are constantly updating their research on how best to express their ideas.
Yes, second wave feminist women getting into the democratic party are what made it become "pro-choice" and a different type of activist/minority coaltion base than before with less influence from their traditional socially conservative/fiscally liberal labour union base. Decline of union power started circa 1972 along with the rise of "globalisation" (by 2006 we are now in a post-globalisation period with an as of yet unknown title for the economics being shaped) the beginning of exporting american middle class began in 1972. Service economy began. Japanese cars came in during the oil embargo. More time started to be spent commuting distant lengthsin the 70's..less time for the family..family breaks down. Than comes non ecclesiastical approved divorce and remarriage.
"Martin Daly & Margo Wilson's study of family crime in Canada and the United States revealed that stepchildren are one hundred times more likely to be abused and eleven times more likely to be murdered by stepparents than biological parents"
"In 1997 sociologist Arlie Hochschild found that Americans increasingly defined home life as problematic and abrasive, and work life as satisfying and absorbing. A New York Times report of November 11, 1998, reveals that even children play less and "work" more"
The hunt for "quality time" with children reflects parental and communal dissatisfaction with catch-as-catch can child care are largely revolving around the demands of work. However "quality time" is a revealing absurd import from the world of management"
"In western industrial society people are now actors writing their own lines in their own script, in a play directed by forces larger than they can master. The shift is only subtly apparent to participants who do not see the larger picture because they are too busy adjusting their lives to the new conditions they now face." - Dr. Lionel Tiger, 1999
They have on average 1.29 children.
Equal Opportunity Employment!
. But I was just at the start of that upward spiral that ended at 22% around 1981. When I tell him that at one point there was a locally offered CD rate of 15.9% for three years, he wonders how anyone could afford to borrow.