“From Marriage to the Market” provides an overview of how the value of women’s domestic work changed in American society after WW II.
This is clearly illustrated by Thistle’s explanations of how social changes caused the collapse of the domestic economy and their contributions to the elimination of the unequal treatment of women and certain racial groups.
After WWII, the divorce rate increased, women and children grew poorer, as the struggle over gender-segregated roles continued.
These conditions in addition to the support women received from many social groups that included men, women, and employers led to a shift in women’s affiliation with household work, as they moved forward into paid work.
Contrary to the popular belief that men could oppose the change, men played a fundamental role in changing the perception of associating women with household work.
According to Thistle, “Though many men initially expressed strong opposition to women’s equality, some had an interest in altering the old structure of marriage, which required them to support one woman in household work for her entire life” (p. 41).
After WW II, most husbands could not sustain the old structure of supporting a family as the wife performed domestic chores. Further, as men’s dissatisfaction with marriages grew, the breadwinner role changed, leading to increased divorce rates.
This challenged the traditional method of assigning tasks on gender basis and put into question men’s control over families; hence, making many women to quit their marriages to pursue their educational dreams.
A second group that contributed to the breakdown of the traditional work structure was employers. Due to increased demand for workers by employers within the expanding sector of the economy, employers began to drop regulations that stalled employment of married women.
As Thistle notes, “The idea that women are doing the same work as men were entitled to the same pay also gained wider support, leading to the passage of the Equal Pay Act by Congress in 1963” (p. 52).
Although many women now could access work, many enacted laws that protected the domestic realm restricted them from better-paying jobs, leading to the amendment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibited discrimination on sex basis.
Still, after the amendments’ passage, there were many restrictions on what hours and where women could work. However, through support from organized groups, employers accepted to flex their stand, as most employers realized the economic significance of women laborers.
In the struggle to enhance their families’ wellbeing, women also contributed to the dismantling of the traditional working structure, as most of them sort for outside labor.
African American women were among the first to enter the labor market, followed by middle-class white women in the late 1960s. Such was the case because most had received a college education and their children were older hence, giving them enough working time.
Also, women formed labor unions that fought for enactment of policies, for example, the paid maternity leave, to support their dual lives (p. 45). This greatly contributed to the abolishment of the traditional work structure that limited women to domestic work.
In conclusion, after WWII women’s domestic roles dwindled sharply; legal actions illustrated the social changes that were necessary to establish equality within the American society.
Many laws supported women’s independence on wages instead of their ex-husbands, and no longer restrained sex and childbearing to marriage.
This led to increased appreciation of the economic significance of women, as women entered the labor market; hence, eliminating the gender-based mode of assigning roles. Such division of gender would not have been possible without the involvement of men, employers, and women.