Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to I am.

Two earner families
Tom Brosz — (archived)

Why did women go into the workforce in such numbers if we were all so well-valued in the home?

It used to be possible for a single-earner family to get by quite nicely. It can still be done, but doesn't seem quite as easy.

This might have a lot to do with it.

The shrinking number of relatively high-paying blue-collar jobs hasn't helped, either.

Also, what consitutes a "middle class" living standard has gotten a bit more expensive.

My parents didn't have two cars until long after I left home. Same for more than one TV set. Maybe one thing we didn't learn from our parents and grandparents was how to get by.

As for the numbers, if you can't come up with statistics for family problems in the 1950s, maybe you can take number from years when such things were itemized, and extrapolate the curves in both directions. While that doesn't actually prove anything, of course, the resulting guesses would be at least as valid as anecdotal evidence that women as a general rule used to be trapped in their homes with abusive men.

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