The 1950s: Life In The Suburbs After WWII

When World War II finally ended, companies started buying land along the outskirts of cities. William Levitt, the developer behind the Levittowns in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, used mass production strategies to build affordable tract houses. The properties would later become iconic symbols of how suburban life was lived in the 1950s. 

Back then, it was cheaper to buy a suburban house than to rent a city apartment, and it was all thanks to the GI Bill that helped subsidized low-cost mortgages for soldiers. Perfect for young families, the houses had open floor plans and backyards. The estates earned nicknames like “The Rabbit Hutch” and “Fertility Valley” because of how family-oriented the design was. 

However, the women who lived in them didn't get as much fulfillment as other members of the family. The 1950s was defined by confining beliefs on how an American woman should live her life. This is evident in the magazines and advice books that were published at the time. Titles include Don't Be Afraid To Marry Young, Cooking To Me Is Poetry, and Femininity Begins At Home, most of which would receive backlash if published today. The definition of sound advice for women at the time was to leave the workforce and become wives and mothers. 

The most important job a woman could do in her life was to bear and rear children back then. The suburbs were burying women alive, and the desperation of it all was voiced by Betty Friedan in her 1963 book entitled The Feminine Mystique. In it, Betty validated the dissatisfaction many women felt which, in turn, gave birth to the second flush of the feminist movement.