[linda_22003]

I think your view of what the 1950s was like is just as black and white as the situation comedies of that era. My mother, who got her B.A. in 1941, her M.A. in 1946 (after serving in the Red Cross during the war), and her Ph.D. in 1951, would chuckle at it if she were here to do so (if she had time, working full time from 1946-1979, with a few years off when I arrived). So would my grandmother (B.A. 1913), who also mixed career and home life pretty well.

Were things more repressive than they are now? Yep. Do people have a lot more choices now? You bet. I am not minimizing the progress that has been made, but your view of the '50s is kind of cartoonish. I'm beginning to suspect you weren't there to see it for yourself. ;)

[Accygirl]

My grandmother's youngest sister went to college in the 1950s and was pre-med. She was told by the college that she really ought to switch to nursing, because her major would prevent her from getting married nor would they recommend her to any med schools because of her gender. Today, that college would get slapped by a huge lawsuit.

There's some pretty smart women out there who were able to cut through the discrimination and have satisfying careers but most weren't.