THE ’50s: A female perspective

We enjoyed many memories shared in Syd Albright’s article on the 1950s but nostalgia has much to do with gender and ethnic/racial heritage.

Our concern was the comment that traditional moral standards “ended by the 1960s — doomed by women’s lib…” (among other things).

Keep in mind:

There was no real concept of domestic violence. Women were isolated and silenced by their partners and a society that told them “You made your bed, you sleep in it!” There was no protection for women prior to The Violence Against Women Act of 1994. In 2017, more than half of female homicide victims were killed in connection to intimate partner violence.

The CDC reports that “nearly 1 in 10 women has been raped by an intimate partner, and an estimated 16.9% of women have experienced sexual violence other than rape in their lifetime.”

Most women could be a teacher, a nurse or a secretary. Those were the options.

Many banks required single, divorced or widowed women to bring a man along with them to cosign for a credit until The Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1974.

Mental health issues/addiction were seen as shameful and treatment was minimal. The term, designated driver, was unheard of and drinking and driving crashes were rampant. Suicide prevention was unavailable.

Child molestation by religious figures was hushed up as religious leaders did not do that.

Mockery and discrimination about ethnic, racial, religion, sexual orientation and gender proliferated.

Wearing a girdle was not fun!

CARLA DVORACEK

MARY ROSDAHL

Coeur d’Alene