"It's going to be the 1950s all over again" - 11-Oct-04 - Generational Dynamics

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 11-Oct-04

"It's going to be the 1950s all over again"

Young women in droves are staying home to take care of the kids, according to a 60 Minutes report Sunday evening.

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"Could it really be that this generation of women, the first to achieve success without having to fight for it, is now walking away, willingly, and without regrets?" asks narrator Leslie Stahl.

Indeed it is. This is exactly what Generational Dynamics has been predicting. Women's behavior goes in generational cycles, varying between strong gender roles and weak gender roles.

Leslie Stahl interviewed a feminist professor, Linda Hirshman, who's been studying the issue. She surveyed high-powered couples who announced their weddings in the New York Times in 1996. 85% of those women were staying at home to take care of the kids, either full-time or part-time.

This is a remarkable swing of the pendulum, and is one of the most dramatic examples of how Generational Dynamics works.

America in the 1960s was in a "generational awakening" period, when individual rights are emphasized. These include "gender rights," and traditional gender roles are politically suppressed.

The same thing happened in the 1830s and continued through the 1850s until the Civil War, and then happened again in the 1890s and continued through the 1920s, until the Great Depression. In between those periods, and traditional male and female roles are emphasized.

Today, America is in a "generational crisis" period, when individual rights are sacrificed for the unity of the nation, and traditional gender roles are emphasized.

As I've previously written about the negative public reaction to Janet Jackson baring her breast at the Superbowl half-time show, the American public is expecting women to act more like women, and men to act more like men. And if 85% of high-powered women graduates are really staying at home to take care of the kids, then the 1950s really are back. (11-Oct-04) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 11-Oct-04 "It's going to be the 1950s all over again"

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 11-Oct-04
"It's going to be the 1950s all over again"