I thought that pushing women into the workforce was supposed to make them happier?

I am sure that many men and women were secretly drinking and abusing prescription tranquilisers in the 1950-60s. They were available and socially acceptable ways of dealing with anxiety and depression. They were of course also very damaging.

Anti-depression medication is available today and depression is accepted as both normal and treatable with meds and or therapy.

And 1/3 of women's Dr. visits are for depression?? Where the hell did you get that figure?

I don't think there is an epidemic rate of depression or suicide or divorce. I certainly don't think the fact that women most often work outside the home causes depression.

Edit: and I think it's a very good thing that people can openly talk about things like depression today and get help for them instead of turning to alcohol and drugs in secret because they are afraid to get help.

Don't know much about the 50's and 60's except what I see on tv lol. But maybe if more women are working now a few things to say...

1) they have to work because more moms are single moms which is really hard to earn money and look after a child

2) maybe they are depressed because they work hard to get degrees like guys but then can't get the same jobs or the same pay because it's not equal. So they take lower paid jobs with less career prospects and feel depressed over it.

3) I forgot lol.

Maybe depression in general is higher too? Not sure. Like someone said before me, maybe it wasnt talked about so much in the older days.

I don't think women have to work outside home to be happy, but if they want to they should be able to and be equal about it and if they don't its ok too as long as they are fulfilled.

Jess

There are so many issues to this question it isn't even funny.

1. Women have ALWAYS been in the workforce. If you believe otherwise, you have been lied to. The idea of a stay at home wife/mommy whose only responsibilities are raising 2.4 kids and cleaning the house while hobby goes off to the office/factory to bring home to bacon is a very 20th century American idea.

2. It is ridiculous to assume that all housewives of the 50s and 60s were taking anti-depressants, as it is ridiculous to assume that all working women of the current era are depressed as well.

There seems to be "all or nothing" mentality that says "ever since the women's liberation of the 60s and 70s, depression rates for women have been going through the roof. Therefore, the cause of this depression is their presence in the workforce, and to remedy this all women should should go back to being housewives. LIKE IT OR NOT."

3. One reason for skyrocketing depression rates is that it is more socially acceptable to talk about such disorders, and more people are willing to come forward and seek treatment. Have you ever opened a history book? Humanity has been a pit of despair and depression since the beginning of time. Depression is nothing new or more prevalent. If you think there was this one magical era where all was right with the world and everyone was happy, well you're a moron.

The way you worded that isn't exactly right as I remember it. I don't remember anybody FORCING women into the work force. Some went for "fulfillment" when they said they found life as a housewife unfulfilling. But more women went into the work force because they were single mothers because that is when divorce REALLY became popular. Anyway, what started as a good thing (attempting to get equal pay for equal work) enticed more women (more than just single mothers) and what happened was a bad side effect of a good thing - the bigger rule of supply/demand struck. With that great of an influx of women workers, the supply of workers practically doubled while the number of jobs did increase but didn't double. So with a high supply of workers, salaries fell. In the 1950's the sole breadwinning father could support the entire family but now with reduced wages because of high supply workforce, virtually all families needed to have both father and mother working to provide comparably to the single breadwinner of the 1950's. Then another factor came into play - birth control so that for the first time the population of the U.S. wasn't growing exponentially. Then another factor... much more people (women/blacks) were able to go to college - again a good thing, but with bad side effects.... by the time MOST people had college degrees, then having a college degree meant less (because virtually everybody has one) so then to get "good" jobs one needed a Masters or a PhD. Now to your question, Djuna, why aren't we happier as a society or as modern women ? Because it's gotten more complex and more difficult to succeed. And it's going to get harder because economically the U.S. has declined as a power and it's future is not as optimistic. AND we now have another influx into the "supply" side of the job market - the influx of illegal immigrants.... more workers for less jobs (outsourcing to India, SE Asia, etc)... Life is getting harder and it may be the end of the expectations that "our kids will have it better than we've had it'....we may have peaked and are now on the decline. We are rats on the treadmill.

If you get a chance, read some of John Cheever's short stories and/or novels, like "The Wapshot Chronicle." You might find it enjoyable and illuminating in some small measure even if it's merely historical.

If depression, divorce and suicide are the by-products of working outside the home after marriage and children, then obviously it is the cause of an epidemic of social and physical ills and should be prohibited. But I suspect it is more complex than that.

If you are happy, then count yourself lucky. If you are happy and talented, then maybe you can put pen to paper and write about how you maintain your own happiness for the benefit of other women out there who may be drowning in unhappiness.

Take care.

Women were in the work force, but they were secretaries, maids and the like that basically got very little pay and the odd slap on the butt for a job well done.

What women's liberation did was remove the stereotypes that said women can't do math or aren't cut out for business. Now, technically speaking, a woman can choose to be a housekeeper or she can choose to get a masters degree and have a career.

So no, we definitely can't "admit" that working outside the women is the problem. I honestly can't tell you why other people are unhappy because I work and I'm doing just fine.

Working for pay doesn't just make you feel happier and fulfilled. It puts you in control of your own life. My husbands decisions can't bankrupt me. If he decides to leave me or die I won't lose my house. If a woman needs to leave an abusive man, she isn't financially trapped. And if a woman is naturally gifted she won't go stir crazy at home while her less-than-genius husband labours all day in a job he hates.

So in conclusion: liberation worked for me. If it didn't work for you then to bad.

I think most women who were housewives were probably perfectly happy that way until Betty Friedan got them all stirred up. Then as soon as they all rushed off and got jobs they started moaning about how tired they were, trying to do a job and take care of the children and home as well etc etc.

Women who actually had been 'working wives' could have told them that was how it would be. Housewives who actually did work before the Friedan era knew how exhausting it was and were jolly glad to be able to give up work when theri husband's economic situation improved.

I think florence King summed up it all up rather neatly in her book 'Reflections in a Jaundiced Eye':

"Wife-and-mother feminism encouraged women to Have It All. As soon as they found out what this cavalier phrase involved, they started complaining like Victorian invalids. The housework that Friedan climaed took only an hour or two was killing them; they were too tired to burgeon, too conflicted to nurture, too busy to bond, too guilty to affirm. They wanted to be able to put their families first without being accused of neglecting their careers, and at the same time wanted to be able to put their careers first without being accused of neglecting their families.'

where are you going with this? that women should stay at home and be housewives? this is ridiculous!

how could someone with a brain, an education and ambition be forced to be someone's cleaner, child minder and whore-on-demand in lieu of having a career???

i am perhaps not the best person to answer this. i am a gay women, educated, have always had a career and have had no interest in having kids. i want to meet a nice woman and have a wife, not a bloody family with kids. and i am not depressed...

It is true, you now need two incomes to get by, your kids are stuck in daycare absorbing the values of minimum wage employees, there are pressures at work, there is a time crunch at home, and you don't get to spend quality time with your kids. Even if you wanted to be a SAHM, society looks down on you.

This is what we have to show for 30+ years of fighting for equality. Now both men and women need to bust their butts just to get by, nobody is happy, everyone is stressed, we don't have time for sex anymore, which makes us more stressed, and who really suffers? That's right, the kids. The next generation is either gonna be very independent, or completely screwed up.

Pushing anybody into something instead of allowing them to make their own decisions about their lives will make them unhappy.

What is right for one individual can make a different individual unhappy. I personally enjoy being in the workforce and need a job to be happy. Other women are happy being a stay at home mom.

Some women have no choice but to be both a full-time parent and a career woman and that can be very stressful. I grew up with a single mom and I can tell you it was no picnic.

P.S. I stayed at home for around 8 months and I was completely miserable. It was like solitary confinement for me. I tried doing volunteer work for a couple of times each week but it was too boring. I eventually got a full time job and I never want to be out of work again. If I win the lottery, I'll probably just go back to college and become a career student.