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Families andWork: The JugglingAct

women of allsocialclassestakingjobs
outsidethehome,seeingit astheir duty to
their country tohelpwith thewar effort.
After thewar,they wereexpectedtoreturn
tohomeandfamily (Epstein,2002;Yellin,
2004).Andmost of them did—producing
a baby boom from 1946intothe1960s.
Thetermbabyboomerrefersgenerally to
everyoneborn between 1946and1964.
Whileitwascommonforawomanto
workbeforeshemarried,themiddleclass
setthestandardof domesticityforwomen
aftertheyweremarried.Itwasexpectedshe
wouldmakefamilyherpriority,andany
financialsupportwouldcomefromtaking
workintothehome(Epstein,2002).The

numberof singlewomenintheworkforce

peakedduringWWIIandthendeclined

sharplyafterthewaraslargenumbersof

singlewomenpursuedhighereducation

Many of the women who worked during WWII found they

had to take more traditional jobs after the war.

SIDEBAR9.1

The Past and the Present

ThefollowingisaquotationfromCasperandBianchi’sbook,Continuity&Change in the American

Family,whichillustratessomeof thechangesthathavetakenplaceinthelivesof womenwhowork

outsidethehome.

Consider the life of a young woman reaching adulthood in the 1950s or early 1960s.Such

a woman was likely to marry straight out of high school or to take a clerical or retail sales

job until she married. She would have moved out of her parents’ home only after she

married,toformanewhouseholdwithherhusband.Thisyoungwomanwaslikelytomarry

byage20andbeginafamilysoonafter.If shewasworkingwhenshebecamepregnant,she

would probably have quit her job and stayed home to care for her children while her

husband had a steady job that paid enough to support the entire family.

Fastforwardtothelastfewyearsofthe20thcentury.Ayoungwomanreachingadulthood

inthelate1990sisnotlikelytomarrybeforeher25thbirthday.Shewillprobablyattendcol-

legeandislikelytolivebyherself,withaboyfriend,orwithroommatesbeforemarrying.She

may move in and out of her parents’ house several times before she gets married. Like her

counterpartreachingadulthoodinthe1950s,sheislikelytomarryandhaveatleastonechild,

butthesequenceof thoseeventsmaywellbereversed.Sheprobablywillnotdropoutof the

labor force after she has children, although she may curtail the number of hours she is

employed to balance work and family. She is also much more likely to divorce and possibly

eventoremarrycomparedwithayoungwomaninthe1950sor1960s.

Source:Casper,L.andBianchi,S.2002.Continuity & change in the American family.ThousandOaks,CA:Sage.,pg3.

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