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DEAR RETRO HOUSEWIFE
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What Did Housewives Do, 2008-10-16
Surely housewives of the 1950s didn't spend every waking moment doing household chores while their husbands were at work. What did housewives do when they didn't have any chores to do? Read? Write stories? Visit neighbors?
Renee
RE: What Did Housewives Do
Typically, when housewives of the 1950s were done with their chores, they were put away in the closet, usually right next to the mop and the broom so as to be easily accessible in case there was a mess to clean up. ;=)
Contrary to what many pseudo-feminists would have you believe, most housewives were quite happy with their lives, for the most part. Now, to answer your question about what they did when they weren't doing chores, from what I have been able to glean from reading old newspapers and talking to real, live people, what they did depended on their personal interests and financial means. Much as it does today.
One thing I have realized, however, is how sorely undervalued the role of the housewife was and is. Women handled many of the social elements of life; those concerning children, society's needy and greased the wheels of her husband's career by arranging social engagements. Women were the glue that held society together. Which is why society is currently falling apart.
Our kids are fat, have diabetes in ridiculous numbers, can't read or write properly (mine can) and quite often end up raising themselves because Mom and Dad both need to have fulfilling careers as claims adjusters or middle managers. The elderly get stuck in stinking hospitals - or are just forgotten about altogether - like the 14,802 people who died in Paris during the summer of 2003 - most elderly -and apparently totally forgotten about by their vacationing families.
Women took care of people. First their families, then their neighbors, then strangers in need. They were on the PTA, sang in the church choir, organized and worked on church and school functions, helped their daughters buy their prom dress or pick out their first lipstick. Baked cookies for bake sales, drove their sons to baseball practice, made sure everybody was well fed, acceptably dressed and had what they needed to prepare themselves for life on their own.
Here is a letter from a woman who lists some of the things she did.
Really, you are limited only by your own imagination.
RH
Status: COMPLETE
