There is a misconception from the perspective of our modern world about the way women were perceived in the 1950s.
The trope goes that a woman’s place was in the kitchen, but only when she wasn’t busy keeping house, making her husband a cocktail, or tending to the children.
In a sense all of that is true, but the spirit is where our modern understanding gets it all wrong.
I’ve been watching promotional movies from the 1950s that are cleverly disguised as how-to videos. They feature the house of the future, many touting modern appliances that promise to maximize efficiency in the home.
Although women weren’t encouraged to be the next CEO of a company, they were respected as the queen of their domain, revered for their role in keeping the family safe, happy, and chugging steadily along into the world of tomorrow.
There was nothing condescending about this conception of her place in the family; in fact, the carefully-scripted clips treat a woman’s work at home with the same seriousness and dignity as any other profession at the time.
The mid-century mindset was about progress through science and applying the same industrial workflow principles to improve life at home.
The women of the era were not seen as silent slaves left to their roles as cook, maid, and nanny, but rather as domestic engineers doing their patriotic duty to run an efficient household that centered around God, country, and family —and wielding tremendous spending power to get it done.
It is the modern world the tells a housewife her role was unimportant or oppressive, that her time and talent are wasted on the people she loves because there’s no monetary compensation.
It is the modern world that tells women the only way to be as good as a man is to compete on the same playing field as a man.
And it is the modern world that has forgotten what a beautifully-kept home and nutritious dinner lovingly served by a nurturing, competent, ever-present matriarch can do for a family and society.
It’s true that women contribute much to the business world nowadays and that can’t be overstated.
However, we will never be as singularly important to any institution, business, or industry as we are to our own families and homes.
This is true whether a woman works outside the home, from home, or is a homemaker – and that truth shouldn’t make us uncomfortable.
We can celebrate International Women’s Day in the way our mothers and grandmothers would have by giving some respect to the irreplaceable role we occupy in the family and in the home that spread our influence outward into society like flower petals on a summer breeze.
I know we’re supposed to pretend women are just like men in the business world, and likewise pretend that men can replace women in the domestic world.
That does nothing but further diminish women and our unique contribution to the whole human race.
Instead, let’s take the time to celebrate our womanhood by giving all we can in the way only we can – taking care of our homes, our husband, our children, and our community with our unique womanly gifts.
And don’t ever be ashamed to admit you’re caring for the world as only a woman can — even if it’s between conference calls and client meetings.
