In the forty year period after World War II, American women's roles and perceptions changed dramatically. Between 1946 and 1986 married females became a large and stable component of the labor force. During the late 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, a growing number of these women adopted the beliefs of the re-emerging feminist movement. This study analyzes the impact of both the demographic revolution and the women's movement on postwar women workers. It also traces the rise of a conservative backlash and examines the reasons traditionalist women found feminism threatening. Nursing, a historically feminized occupation, is the prism through which postwar women are studied.
Susan Leighow
1946 1986 Demographic Feminism feminism gender equality Impact Leighow Nurses Questions Revolution States United Women women's rights