--- title: Women's Equality Day: Dilemma of the American Woman description: Seven decades ago, LIFE magazine presented this analysis of the state of American women's lives. Some things haven't changed since then. canonical: https://time.com/4901910/american-womans-dilemma-womens-equality/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-25T13:00:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:42:13.313Z og:title: How the Conversation About Women 'Having It All' Played Out 70 Years Ago og:description: For Women's Equality Day, a look at what's changed — and what's stayed the same og:url: https://time.com/4901910/american-womans-dilemma-womens-equality/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6da12979829b1458/6988d9d60a4a2254749cf7df/womans-dilema-chores.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 1947 Woman's Dilemma og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How the Conversation About Women 'Having It All' Played Out 70 Years Ago twitter:description: For Women's Equality Day, a look at what's changed — and what's stayed the same twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6da12979829b1458/6988d9d60a4a2254749cf7df/womans-dilema-chores.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How the Conversation About Women 'Having It All' Played Out 70 Years Ago by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Aug 25, 2017 1:00 PM UTC  Housewife Marjorie McWeeney w. broom amidst symbolic display of her week's housework at Bloomingdale's store incl. 35 beds to be made, 750 items of glass & china, 400 pieces of silverware to wash, 174 lbs. of food to prepare, some of 250 pieces of laundry Housewife Marjorie McWeeney w. broom amidst symbolic display of her week's housework at Bloomingdale's store incl. 35 beds to be made, 750 items of glass & china, 400 pieces of silverware to wash, 174 lbs. of food to prepare, some of 250 pieces of laundryNina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Aug 25, 2017 1:00 PM UTC Ever since the very first [Women’s Equality Day](http://time.com/4459168/womens-equality-day-bella-abzug/) was celebrated in the United States, the annual Aug. 26 event has marked more than just the anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s extension of voting rights. It has also commemorated the struggle for a [deeper](http://time.com/4010645/womens-equality-day/) kind of equality in all realms of life. But, though much progress has been made toward that goal, some things have barely changed in decades. Case in point: LIFE magazine devoted a lengthy [1947 story](https://books.google.com/books?id=mEgEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&pg=PA100#v=twopage&q&f=false) to the “American woman’s dilemma,” and the details of that dilemma are problems still faced today. The sub-headline just about summed it up: “She wants a husband and she wants children. Should she go on working? Full time? Part time? Will housework bore her? What will she do when her children are grown?” These questions ring familiar to present-day debates about whether, and how, women can “[have it all](http://time.com/3453839/kirsten-gillibrand-have-it-all/).” In 1947, with the post-war United States awash in considerations of how women ought best to spend their lives, LIFE profiled how a selection of American women had answered that question. A generation before, the story noted, the women in the story would likely have been happy — or at least put on happy faces — about seeing marriage as a “complete future.” But when the story was published, they could be businesswomen, lawyers, factory workers, gardeners, harpists, television announcers, secretaries or housewives, like the woman featured in the photos above — who, the story noted, did that work a whopping 100 hours a week, even with the help of modern appliances.  A week's work for Marjorie McWeeney is assembled by Bloomingdale's store. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images Many more professional avenues are available to American women today than were in the past, but the basics of this 70-year-old story will still ring true for many. The full-time workers, at least those who could afford to have a choice in the matter, had to earn enough to cover childcare costs. Those who stayed home full-time were faced with an uncertain future if they planned to return to the workforce later, though by LIFE’s count U.S. housewives at that time contributed unpaid labor worth $34 billion ($378 billion today) to the economy each year. If they did not plan to return to work after their children were grown, they faced a life, in the magazine’s words, of being “bored stiff.” Part-time work was a partial solution, but it was hard to find and hardly feasible for those who actually needed the money they earned. And, as Frances Levison [wrote](https://books.google.com/books?id=mEgEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&pg=PA100#v=twopage&q&f=false) in an essay to accompany the story, all this analysis of the “dilemma” had an “inevitably disturbing effect” on the gender in question — serving as a reminder of one more kind of inequality faced by American women: the inequality of attention to what she was doing. “Probably no man has ever troubled to imagine,” the essay quoted the writer Dorothy Sayers observing, “how strange his life would appear to himself if it were unrelentingly assessed in terms of his maleness.”  Caption from LIFE. The McWeeneys, John, Shawn, Mark, Marjorie and Rush. A nice husband, three fine children keep her busy 100 hours a week Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  American housewife Marjorie McWeeney cleaning house and watching her children. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Outburst of affection as Marjorie telephones is only one of countless daily interruptions by her children. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Explorations into the darkest recesses of closets and cabinets are conducted all day long by agile Rusty. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Busman's holiday for Marjorie is an afternoon with mother of Carol, 3 1/2, and Debbie, 7 months. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  American housewife Marjorie McWeeney feeding two of her children. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Inventory of the first-aid kit is also on the agenda for Rusty, who never puts things back. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Amatuer theatricals are staged in bedroom while Mother is busy elsewhere. Rusty likes her hat. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Tragedy transpires from experimentation with the vacuum cleaner. Rusty learns nothing from Shawn's disaster. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Even at the hairdresser's Marjorie keeps an eye on Mark whom she brought along in his bassinet. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  American housewife Marjorie McWeeney with her daughter Shawn on a tricycle. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  American housewife Marjorie McWeeney holding her children. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  American Woman's Dilemma from the June 16, 1947 issue of LIFE magazine. Photos by Nina Leen. LIFE Magazine  American Woman's Dilemma from the June 16, 1947 issue of LIFE magazine. Photos by Nina Leen. LIFE Magazine  American Woman's Dilemma from the June 16, 1947 issue of LIFE magazine. Photos by Nina Leen. LIFE Magazine  American Woman's Dilemma from the June 16, 1947 issue of LIFE magazine. Photos by Nina Leen. LIFE Magazine  American Woman's Dilemma from the June 16, 1947 issue of LIFE magazine. Photos by Nina Leen. LIFE Magazine  American Woman's Dilemma from the June 16, 1947 issue of LIFE magazine. Photos by Nina Leen. 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