Although the 1950s may have seemed to have been a tranquil decade-in regard to conventional notions of the family-various trends and events contributed to the evolution of the women's liberation movement that would gain momentum in the 1960s. In both nations the number of college graduates swelled in the years following World War II, although many women who had achieved some degree of higher education married soon after graduation or even before. In their new roles as housewives, these women often found themselves bored and frustrated with the repetitive domestic routines and unsatisfied in their roles as mothers. It was these educated women who helped form the core of the feminist movement in the 1960s. Secondly, though conventional wisdom preached that a woman's place was in the home, a growing percentage of wives supplemented their husbands' incomes by taking jobs. In fact, Life magazine reported that in 1956 women held one-third of all jobs in the United States. Many of those who enjoyed their work and sought advancement and equal pay were dismayed to find that women had few chances for these rewards and even less legal recourse.
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