APUSH THEMATIC REVIEW 2.6
Milestones in Women’s History 1940 to 2010 

Eleanor Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, was to become the most active First Lady in history.  She powerfully influenced the policies of the national government, battling for the impoverished and oppressed.

Women and the Workplace, 1941 to 1960

World War II
The number of working women rose from 14,600,000 in 1941
to 19,370,000 in 1944 (thirty-seven percent of all adult women were in the labor force)

Between 1940 and 1944, married women made up over seventy-two percent of the total number of female employees. By the end of the war, half of all female workers were over thirty-five.

The 1950’s
The soldiers and their wives began the baby boom, perhaps the most prolific explosion of child births ever (in 1957 a baby was born every seven seconds!).

The new white-collar employment opened special opportunities for women.  The baby boom during the years after World War II caused the role of women to revert to the typical role of a mother and wife.  But the majority of the clerical and service work jobs created after 1950 were filled by women.  Women's new dual role as both workers and homemakers raised urgent questions about family life and about traditional definitions of gender differences.

Feminist Betty Friedan published in 1963 The Feminine Mystique, helping to launch the modern women's movement.  Friedan spoke to many educated women who supported her indictment of the boredom of a housewife.

Silent Spring is a 1962 environmental science book by Rachel Carson.The book documented the detrimental effects on the environment—particularly on birds—of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation and public officials of accepting industry claims unquestioning

The Modern Women’s rights Movement