Antifeminist rhetoric rose to new levels in the aftermath of World War II. During the war, with most able young men contributing to the war effort, the responsibility of maintaining the United States labor force had fallen largely on the shoulders of its female citizens. Between 1941 and 1945, over 6 million women went to work for the first time in their lives. Many of them discovered that they enjoyed working and so were loath to return to staying at home when the fighting stopped. But while the nation lauded these women during the war, women who still worked were afterward criticized for destroying the American family. In 1947, for instance, sociologist Marynia Farnham and historian Ferdinand Lundberg discussed the role of women in the disintegration of modern society with their book, Modern Woman: The Lost Sex. In the text, the two scholars argued that women who entered the work force abandoned their essential femininity. By engaging in professional competition with men, they abandoned their children to grow into delinquents. Such attitudes carried over well into the next decade.
The belief that women should remain at home to raise children seemed unanimously held during this era.
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