The Pittsburgh Press (January 17, 1946)
Ferguson: Doing replaces being
By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
The war has changed the attitude of young Mrs. America toward her home. She values it more highly, she loves it more dearly, and she is no longer ashamed to do her own housework.
This may mean that homemaking will be listed once again as the most important feminine job. Those hordes of war brides, whose husbands are back and can’t find a roof to cover them, feel the first stirrings of that age-old yearning for a home. They might not have thought about it before – one usually takes such things for granted.
Now the housing shortage is depriving young couples of a place of their own. When they finally find one, it’s a safe bet they will appreciate it and give it up with reluctance.
The war also has made hundreds of thousands of men and women more self-reliant. We’ve had to do many things for ourselves. Housewives learned to attend to the odd jobs which either the menfolks or a hired Mr. Fixit used to do. They know how to cook and sew and clean. They’ve cared for their children without help. They have nursed families through illness since nurses are scarce.
There are many signs of a new sense of responsibility among women and a groping for new values. Life is a great adventure – to waste it is a crime. So when we take a good look at ourselves, we see clearly that we’ve forgotten that it is important to do than to be. Here’s hoping the new woman of the post-war world will be brave enough to stand for something, and to stand pat.
I think she will.