Capitalism

Capitalism The Postwar effects on Women The “feminine mystique” that American culture promotes is entirely dependent upon its ideas, beliefs, and needs of the time. American culture has always tended to influence women into doing what the day and age required. After men went to war there was a gap in the work force that needed to be filled. During World War II women were the most available to join the work force. Due to the discouragement to raise families during the Great Depression and the fact that most men of age had entered the war, many women were left without families to look after and men to take to take care of them. “Most women toiled at unskilled jobs; most were young, single, and without children” (307). This lack of family and funds left women with no other place to go besides the factories. Women’s need for work was nursed along by the media as well as the public. “A rapidly expanding war economy absorbed most of the reserve labor force,” (307) yet it still was not enough, the economy demanded a larger work force. This demand worked in cooperation with the availability of the women of the time. “’Commando women, war, work, home, force, men, after, jobs, female, american, without, time, television, return, postwar, million, media, life, left, labor, ideas, families, economy, during, due, culture, children, became, women’s, wartime, tended, taking, take, submissive, show, segregation, rosie, own, off, new, mystique, learned, laid, join, housewives, generation, feminine, family, fact, enticements