The+Pill

"American Experience | The Pill | People & Events." // PBS //. Web. Fall 2010. [].

“Embedded in the propaganda of the time was the idea that the nuclear family was what made Americans superior to the Communists.” “…an image was promoted of American women, with their feminine hairdos and delicate dresses, tending to the hearth and home as they enjoyed the fruits of capitalism, democracy, and freedom.”

“In the 1950s, women felt tremendous societal pressure to focus their aspirations on a wedding ring.”

“The U.S. marriage rate was at an all-time high and couples were tying the knot, on average, younger than ever before. Getting married right out of high school or while in college was considered the norm.”

“Although women had other aspirations in life, the dominant theme promoted in the culture and media at the time was that a husband was far more important for a young woman than a college degree.”

“Despite the fact that employment rates also rose for women during this period, the media tended to focus on a woman's role in the home.”

“If a woman wasn't engaged or married by her early twenties, she was in danger of becoming an ‘old maid.’”

“Not only did most married women walk down the aisle by age 19; they also tended to start families right away.”

“A majority of brides were pregnant within seven months of their wedding, and they didn't just stop at one child.”

“Large families were typical. From 1940 to 1960, the number of families with three children doubled and the number of families having a fourth child quadrupled.”

“This was also the era of the ‘happy homemaker.’”

“For young mothers in the 1950s, domesticity was idealized in the media, and women were encouraged to stay at home if the family could afford it.”

“Women who chose to work when they didn't need the paycheck were often considered selfish, putting themselves before the needs of their family.” “When the Pill was introduced, the social factors affecting women's reproductive lives contributed significantly to the warm reception women across the country gave the Pill.”