Post-war era

40s - 50s

The 50's housewife

British Gas Council advert from the 50s - featuring typical housewife of the era.

The infamous 50's housewife conjurs up images of apron-donned, headscarf-wearing, curly-haired women in the kitchen - albeit glamourous with red lipstick and heels. It's deemed rather sexist and chauvinistic in today's society! Yet it was very much accepted in the 40s and 50s that a woman's place was in the home: cooking, cleaning, raising children and gardening...etc., while the man of the house worked to provide for the family. During the war, women clubbed together and worked typical male jobs: factory-workers, mechanics, engineers and the like. The reality that women were a lot stronger and tougher than previously thought was becoming widely apparent. Therefore, the vintage housewife may have looked submissive and wimpy - but she was a very hardworker!

 The 50's housewife somewhat defines the word 'vintage', with her curls and lipstick and heels. The look is very much associated with, and perhaps stems from, classic 50's icons such as Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe.