Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes: The Story of Women in the 1950s

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A long, more fleshed-out look at this book can be found at my online reading journal here -- otherwise, carry on.

Seek support: Reach out to friends, family, or a therapist for advice and emotional support when facing challenges. The author’s use of women’s experiences brings the decade vividly to life and if I have learnt anything from it, it is that I am grateful for the choices and freedoms that I have as a woman today. There are some disappointing anti-male comments scatted through the book (references to the walls built by men to keep women out of professions, etc). It does sound really interesting and I agree with you that it still exist today not just in the ’50’s.

While Western countries were making improvements in women's social rights, such as suffrage, Japan was just beginning to confront women's movements. She treats the opposition to Princess Margaret’s relationship with Townsend as something specific to her time and gender. It’s almost brain-dead, it smells good, it tastes good, and you don’t have to worry about your life. Above all, one of the qualities of a good wife is knowing that her home has to be a safe place for the family to grow, play, and live. Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes focuses on the lives of women in the UK from both working-class and privileged backgrounds during the 1950s.

Its publication by Morrow, USA in February 2004 was followed by a sell-out lecture and publicity tour round five American cities. The author has taken the memories of women from all social classes and woven them into a multi coloured picture of daily life for women. This situation still applied in the Civil Service for example until the 1970s, where a woman had to resign on marriage though she could be immediately re-employed in the same job. I think possibly it's the wrong kind of book to read cover to cover; rather one to dip into and get lost in another era for a while and pop back on the shelves.

Several years ago, I edited a story by the historian Alexis Coe about the different ways literary husbands and wives publicly acknowledge each other in their books. That being said, it did take me some time to finish this book, as I found some parts a bit slow and repetitive. The centrepiece of the book is the Daily Mail Ideal Home exhibition, the yearly showcase for innovations in the post-war homes that could never be built fast enough, and which in 1957 broke records with 1. This might play out in organizing their schedule and family plans, meal planning for the week, or even managing finances—there is no prescribed list of chores in the Bible, so a wife has the freedom and stewardship to evaluate what is most helpful to her own husband.

The magazine Good Housekeeping, which by 1957 had a circulation of over 200,000, opens a window on to the imperatives of the 1950s homemaker.The WI started off in the 19th Century, enraged by high infant mortality rates and determined to educate and mobilize woman to combat issues such as poor hygiene, a lack of family planning, and alcohol abuse. One of the crucial attributes of a good wife is her ability to ensure her husband attains his best potential. Traditionally in Chinese feudal society, a wife must consider her husband's family more important than her own. Whilst I don’t doubt she and many other women were content and enjoyed the security that marriage brought them, the evidence in Ms Nicholson’s book shows that for many others domestic life was a disappointment, and was far removed from that portrayed in the saccharine toned adverts of the day.