by Kelly Greenbaum

Created on: October 05, 2009   Last Updated: August 25, 2010

Motherhood and marriage have gone through some extreme changes over the last forty nine years to be sure. As society changed and revolutionized, so did the role of motherhood. Women went from stay at home mom's in the sixties, to becoming over half of the working force today. Women changed and adapted to the world around them. Some would argue because women have come so far in the work force that having the option to stay at home with your children has become something of a stigma, and financially, not feasible in most households.

In the nineteen sixties women had a pretty good idea about their priorities in life. Through media and culture it was an assumption that most women would become wives and mothers. The idea of being a self made woman only belonged to the very wealthy who didn't need the financial stability that most women required back then. Without a husband, women received such names as spinster, or old maid, none of which were positive and women, in general, tried to steer clear of these titles. In some ways things were easier back then because everyone knew what part to play in the family and there was less confusion. The only thing wrong with this equation was that women had only two options, getting married, or living in poverty for the rest of their lives. Women could not earn a decent living yet and were hard-pressed to go up any corporate ladder.

Then the seventies rolled in with; free love, peace, black, and women's rights at the fore front, leading the rebellion. Unfortunately the same problems women had in the sixties still haunted our bra burning companion's in the seventies. Women still made considerably less than men did and stigmas were still there. They were just a little different. The divorce rates skyrocketed and the term, welfare mother, became well known; this lead to a generation of single motherhood, and fatherless children. The welfare rates were so high that by the time the eighties roared in, everyone was ready for a change.

In the eighties the political winds shifted back to the right and it was all about making money. White men continued to top the corporate ladders quicker, and still made significantly more money than women, but women had gained some ground. It now became accepted that women should also be educated and go to college. Since men could no longer be counted on, to not only support a wife, but also their children, women had to step up to the proverbial plate. But everything seemed great as the economy came

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