Feminine Mystique

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

enticements luring women to join the work force. These enticements included higher war wages, more available time and opportunity to work, and wartime restrictions on leisure activities.
“Despite the general expectation that women would return to their home after the war, female laborers did not simply drop their wrenches and pick up frying pans” (310). After the war many women continued to work outside the home primarily to help support their families. After the war 28% of the labor force was female compared to the 24% prior to the war. When the war was over nearly one million women were laid off and another 2.25 million voluntarily left. These female losses in the work force were offset by the gain of 2.75 million women into the work force. “When women who had been laid off managed to return to work, they often lost their seniority and had to accept reduced pay in lower job categories” (310). Due to the severe segregation by gender, the postwar economic life for women was ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

CITE THIS PAGE: