history Archives - Painter Mommy

This is a guest post…

A look at how life has changed for the working woman over the years

As horrible as the World War II was, that was really a turning point for women. With the men off at war, women needed to step in and work the factory jobs to keep getting supplies created. Once the war ended, many women enjoyed not just working, but the sense of importance that came with it; so they fought to keep these rights.

The feminist movement gained a lot of victories for women, and from there women have never looked back. Obtaining higher education, working full-time jobs; no matter what was placed in front of women, they kept on moving forward.

Today a working woman’s life is quite different than even just 20 years ago. Here are some of the major differences that women in the modern era face, compared to those before them.

Employment

One of the most positive changes for women living in 2014, is that the employment of women in the workplace is higher than ever. In the last 60 years employment rates for women have rose from 31% to 62%, while males employment rate has dropped from 89% to 75%. These are some very drastic numbers, which has led to quite a few changes for the working woman.

While many families before could be supported with just a single parent working, nowadays most families rely heavily on a woman’s income to help support family life. Majority of working women are putting in 40 hour weeks, before they even begin to think about making dinner and spending time with their husband and children.

The extra income from working is obviously needed for most families, however this has led to a few changes. Families are eating out more than ever, with the need for child care rising dramatically.

Meals

Due to the time constraints of work schedules on both parents, families are now resorting to eating out more than ever. In the 1930s, when it was normal for a woman to stay at home with the kids; every meal was taken care of by the stay at home mom.

When women started working 20 hour weeks and just joining the work force, meals were still being prepared by a man’s wife each night. Yet fast forward to the modern day era, when sometimes a woman puts in more hours of work each week than her husband; this is where something has to give.

Parents are either stuck at work, stuck in traffic, or running around taking their children to after-school activities; so they simply do not have enough time to go home and put together a well thought out meal. The result is more families stopping at fast food restaurants on the way home each night which has lead to increased levels of obesity across the board here in the United States.

Child Care

Possibly the biggest change for working women is paying for premium child care while they are at work. Instead of being able to stay at home and watch the kids throughout the day, parents are forced to send their kids to child care.

If you are lucky, you have a close relative (grandma, mom, dad, etc…) to watch your children as they are young. If not, you are looking at paying quite a bit to ensure your child is taken care of during the day. Working women have had to adjust to this, which is a main factor in why women are waiting longer than ever to have their first child now. Some families have actually adjusted to this by having dad stay at home with the kids, while mom goes to work.

While so much has changed over the years for working women, I’m sure there will be even more milestones crossed in the near future. I could easily see the first woman president taking office within the next decade. The world will keep on progressing, and I cannot help but wonder what women 30 years from now will think of the working women of 2014.

The Kettle

The origins of the kettle stretch all the way back to before the birth of Christ where, in Mesopotamia, the first forms of kettle were used. The Chinese were the first to really use the kettle for the purpose with which it is associated today, namely boiling water.

What may come as a surprise to some people is just how long the electric kettle has been in existence. Back in 1922, Arthur Leslie Large from Birmingham in the West Midlands developed the world’s first plug-in electric kettle as an alternative to the standard stove-top model. The next decade saw the electric kettle begin to take off in terms of sales and, in the 1930’s, models with automatic cut-outs were introduced. Today, with famous brand names such as Delonghi, Kenwood and Breville dominating the market, it is difficult to imagine a world without them.

The Toaster

The perfect companion to the kettle – the toaster has been around in various formats for well over one hundred years. At one time the only way to toast bread was to pop a slice onto the end of a toasting fork and hold it over a roaring fire. That is until 1893, when Alan MacMasters from Edinburgh patented the very first electric toaster. Named the Eclipse, this early model was prone to setting alight as it used iron wiring which melted very easily.

The first automatic pop-up toaster arrived in 1919 and just a short time later in 1925, improvements were such that the very first model with a timer and the ability to toast both sides of the bread simultaneously was released.

The Microwave

The microwave oven is one of the more recent kitchen appliance innovations but has still been in existence for a number of years. In 1947, Percy Spencer, an American engineer, invented the very first microwave oven. Called the Radarange, it used radar technology which had been developed during World War II but was not released for home-use, mainly due to the fact it was nearly six feet in height. The first microwave released onto the market for home consumers arrived in 1955. However, these were very large in size and considered too bulky for general home-use.

It was not until the 1960’s that the first counter-top microwave oven was developed for general home consumer use. Today there are not many households which do not have a microwave oven in their kitchens.

Often taken for granted today, these kitchen appliances are possibly some of the most under-rated inventions of all time and are sure to be around for a long time to come yet.