During the 1950’s, men’s and women’s roles in society were reverted to the stereotypical notions of what each sex should be doing. During World War II, women had risen up in the workplace, taking the jobs of the men who were away at war. After the war, however, when men returned home, women experienced a setback in the gains they had made. In the first two years after the war, 2 million women lost their jobs (Halberstam 589). They returned to their places in the kitchen, while men took over the workforce again.
Women were expected to be good mothers and wives, returning to the home after working during the war. Many families were able to support themselves on one income, the man’s, and so there was no need for the women to work (Halberstam 589).The move to suburbia isolated women, taking them away from most jobs, and placing them amongst other women just like themselves (Halberstam 143). In addition, the new culture of consumerism told women they should be homemaers. Advertisers and companies recognized that women made many purchasing decisions for families, and their ads would show a woman gleefully turning on her stove, or happily loading a dryer (Halberstam 591). The magazine articles and television shows tried to tell women that they needed these products if they wanted to be truly happy. This reinforced the notion that a woman’s place was in her home, and that her job was to create the perfect family life.
There was no outlet to express their feelings for women who were dissatisfied or unhappy trying to meet this ideal (Halberstam 592). There were no real organized women’s groups that promoted the working woman. Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique, was the first book that airedwomen’s dissatisfactions with their stereotypical roles was not published until 1963, although it was written during the late 1950’s. Friedan really did document women’s discontents with their role in society. Asked to do a reunion article for Smith College (an all women’s institution), she sent out surveys for the graduates to fill out. When the surveys were returned, Friedan discovered that most women were unhappy with their lives, feeling isolated from the world their husbands experienced.  It wasn’t until the 1960’s, however, that women got to move beyond their role as a housewife againx