Sometimes It's Hard To Be A Woman

To paraphrase Tammy Wynette's 1975 hit "Stand by Your Man",  sometimes it's hard to be a woman.  Or maybe it should be sometimes it WAS hard to be a woman.  Especially when you have a chance to get a glimpse of what life was like for women back in our mother's, grandmother's or even great-grandmother's heyday.  Oh, it's easily to romanticize those simpler times, but there are always two sides to every coin, and for the purposes of this post, I'm only looking at the "tails" side. 

What got me started on this topic was this little periodical from 1951 titled "Woman's Life".  I was struck by the sad looking graphic of the woman's face on the cover, and then when I read the featured articles I realized why she looked so glum:

 

I realize that the end of World War II was a huge transition for women in the U.S., because they had been holding down jobs in factories and now, with the men returning back home, they were expected to go back to their kitchens and get cookin', raise up some kids and keep their house spic and span, all the while looking like they were ready to go to church or a cocktail party once they took off their apron.

 

Of course, there were some that pursued nursing, teaching, and secretarial work, which were considered acceptable professions for women. 

 

Having a career and a family were pretty much mutually exclusive activities, though. Once a woman married, it was back to the laundry room for her!

 

Luckily there were modern appliances that made household duties easier, like this Lovell laundry wringer:

 

The woman in the ad looks pretty darn happy with her Lovell '77:

 

It makes me wonder how many women toiled away in their homes, forever wringing laundry without ever finding a creative outlet or something that they were passionate about.....

 

Once the bloom of youth was gone, women weren't considered good marriage material, and were destined to become "old maids", or "spinsters".

 

Women were depicted in magazines from the mid-twentieth century as being primarily responsible for the success or failure of their marriages.  Thank goodness there were companies that provided special potions and medications that would lend a helping hand when wives experienced that not-so-fresh feeling!  To illustrate this point, allow me to share this ad from "Charm" magazine, September 1948 (you can click on the image to read the text easier):

 

 

Can you believe this?  Lysol?  I didn't make this up, I swear!

 

Lysol was so economical too!  One small bottle made four gallons of cleansing formula, enough for a woman to feel "dainty" every day!

Do you suppose poor hygiene was the reason married couples often slept in separate beds, like the setup shown below?

 

Sometimes it was hard to be a woman!  But things are much easier now, aren't they?  And we can all be thankful that Lysol has withdrawn themselves from the feminine hygiene business!

 

Can you think of any more examples why it was so hard to be a woman years ago?  I'd love to hear what you come up with!  In the meantime, I have a load of laundry to fold......

Mitzi 

Comments

[Bev C]

Oh Mitzi my goodness that Lysol makes you feel dainty!!!!
Just loved this post,Mum had a wringer washing machine don't remember the brand but I suppose it was a lot easier than hand washing.

Enjoy your folding. A woman's work is never done.
Happy days.
Bev.xoxo

[Mitzi Curi]

Hi Bev,

Im glad you enjoyed my post. I often tell my hubby A womans work is never done. Its so true!

Mitzi
----- Original Message -----

[Barbara]

I have an old Workbasket magazine in which a man writes in to tell about the gift he bought his wife - curtain stretchers - and how she has spent many happy, profitable hours using them. He highly recommends them. Strange that he's the one that wrote in, and not his wife...

[Theresa]

I am always amazed at how many older men are still alive today when I see old ads!!! LOL Really, how did the womans movement take so long? The lysol ad is too much! This is so timely though, a friend and I were just talking yesterday about how much better we have it than the strong and I think admirable woman before us, they didn't stop working from the time they got up until they blew out the lights. Making dinner for them was not going to the store and buying meat already cut up so you can't recognize what animal it came from, I remember going to my Bushie's house and watching her pluck a chicken for dinner. and yes I'm glad I don't have to do that, or all of my family would be vegetarians and not just 3 of us! This was a great post, Mitzi! I have a few old ladies magazines that I love to go through. xoxo

[sharon]

good morning mitzi, oh this was soooo funny, until the lysol ad, then i thought....OUCH! hahahahaha. our poor grandmothers and great grandmothers...we are so lucky in so many ways! thank you for a good laugh this morning. ENJOY that sunshine. :)

[Mitzi Curi]

Theresa,

Im glad you enjoyed the post. Old magazines are a treasure trove of amazing ads and articles, graphics and pictures. I can get lost in them for hours, and end up putting a sticky note on each page I find interesting, for possible future reference.

Lately Ive come across some farming pamphlets, instructing folks how to raise chickens, and then kill them, as well as sticking a hog, scalding a hog, and scraping a hog. I was horrified when I read the details, and havent eaten any pork since!

Mitzi

[Design Elements]

I've enjoyed your post! lovely greetings

[Annette]

Lysol???? eeeuuwww. I love the old magazines and the ads, too. It doesn't take much review to realize how well we have it!
Annette

[Lori]

Oh Mitzi, Mitzi I loved this post and ads!! I love to buy old magazines and elixir booklets and chuckle away! being a woman so long ago, a million reasons! I think one of the worst was the way male doctors or professionals disregarded woman's ideas or complaints as frivolous. I also feel that due to societies ideals women who remained in abusive relationships instead of divorce due to the social stigma. And we can't overlook the lack of adequate birth control options available. Lori

[Janet Elise Veronica]

Mitzi this is hilarious! The titles for the articles in "Women's Life" are really not too far removed from todays "Cosmopolitan". I would imagine the answers have changed dramatically!
Thanks for sharing these treasures.

Hugs,
Janet

[JeanneP]

It is amazing to talk to women who have lived through those times...my Great Aunt was a "spinster" who lived to be 105! She always said it was because she never got married! But...she worked her tail off! And she worked til she was 85...lied about her age! She was never ill. What an amazing lady she was. Never wore a pair of pants in her life! She wore dresses and the "old style" nylons every single day of her life!! I never did hear her talk about the whole "Lysol" thing though...
:)

[Mitzi Curi]

Jeanne,

What a wonderful aunt you had! I love to hear of fiesty ladies with lots of gumption! Thanks for sharing a bit about her with the blogging world.

Mitzi

[Cynthia]

Mitzi, this post was awesome. I saw that Lysol ad about 20 years ago when a friend came across it in an old magazine. We passed it around the office and just could not believe that Lysol was used for feminine hygiene! In recent years, I told about this to other people, and they just did not believe that it was advertised for that purpose. Then lo and behold, you post that same subject - LOL! Anyway, you KNOW who was advertising these ideas to women, right???? Guess that's why we had to go through the 60's and 70's to get men to finally figure out that we don't need them to make choices for us. My guy LOVES my gray hair, too (really)!

[Mitzi Curi]

Hey Cynthia,

Thats so cool that you saw the Lysol ad before! I have a couple stacks of old magazines, each with numerous sticky notes on pages with interesting ads or articles. Oh, and catalogs too! Theyre lots of fun....

Mitzi

[LuAnn]

Great article Mitzi. Lysol for feminine hygiene? Hard to imagine... LOL

[Sarsaparilla]

What a fun post! Now I can't get that Tammy Wynette tune out of my head... :-)