2016/02/23 by Caitríona Beaumont · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes #Historical Gender and Feminism Studies #Political and Economic history of UK and US #Housewife #Gender studies #Mythology #Ideal (ethics) #Women's history #Sociology #World War II #Feminism #History #Political science #Law
paper · doi:10.1080/09612025.2015.1123029
openalex publication_date 2016/02/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
The myth that the women's movement in Britain went into decline in the decade following the Second World War has now been debunked. Yet despite this more accurate re-telling of the fate of female activism in the 1950s, the view that the majority of women at this time aspired only to marriage and motherhood persists. The iconic image of the ‘ideal 1950s housewife’ has proved hard to excise from the historical record and the public imagination. The aim of this paper is to discover what women really wanted in the 1950s. This will be done through a study of popular housewives' associations who represented the interests of over a million British women throughout the decade. The paper will evaluate how successful these groups were in supporting their members and campaigning to improve the lives of women. In exploring these themes it is argued that a new understanding of domesticity emerged in the 1950s better reflecting what women really wanted in the decades following the Second World War.