Women at Work Demolishing a Myth of the 1950's

There is a persistent stereotype that during the 1950's American women had no choice but to be housewives. This book reports on a Survey of the women of Cornell University's Class of 1950 that demolishes this stereotype. Forty-four percent of these women chose to work or go to graduate school for five years or more during the 1950's. In their lifetimes, 71 percent worked 20 years or more; 38 percent, 30 years or more. This record is probably typical of college-educated women of this generation. This Survey should be a source for sociologists and historians studying this generation of women. This book includes individual entries about the work experiences and other activities of 191- 56 percent- of the 344 women graduates in Cornell University's Class of 1950. Cornell women were routinely working a full decade before the women's movement of the 1960's. Five women became physicians; 11 became lawyers, and 22 earned Ph.D.'s or other doctoral degrees. Five were engineers; 13 became college professors; five were chairs of academic departments, and one was a dean.Steinmann, Marion is the author of 'Women at Work Demolishing a Myth of the 1950's' with ISBN 9781413479300 and ISBN 1413479308.