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1950s Marriage Advice For Women Will Make Your Feminist Blood Boil

1950s Marriage Advice For Women Will Make Your Feminist Blood Boil
UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1950s: Couple ironing.
George Marks via Getty Images
UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1950s: Couple ironing.

If you think 2016 is a bad year to be a woman, be grateful it’s not 1950.

Marriage advice from an old school home economics book has surfaced on the internet and it paints a bleak picture of what it was like to be a woman in our grandmother’s day.

From making sure the dinner is on the table to speaking in hushed tones so as not to upset your husband, the advice is enough to make you retch.

What’s worse, this is the kind of crap our grandmothers (and mothers) would have been subject to, which is just plain upsetting.

The extract was posted on Facebook and has since gone viral. Here are some irritating tips for how to be the perfect housewife in 1950.

Have dinner ready

“Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal on time. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospects of a good meal are part of the warm welcome needed.”

Prepare yourself

“Touch up your make up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot of work weary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.”

Clear away the clutter

“Run a dust cloth over the tables. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too.”

Make him comfortable

“Arrange his pillow and offer to take his shoes. Speak in a low, soft, soothing and pleasant voice. Allow him to relax - unwind.”

Give me strength.