Cathy Mendola
"The Shift From a 50's Housewife to Today's Woman"
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| (Photos by Patrick Fraser) |
This shift represents my experience as the daughter of a 50’s housewife and the mother of ‘today’s woman’. It is not a political statement, nor meant to show the 50’s housewife negatively.
My mother’s world in the 50’s revolved around marriage and children. She is the gentle flower on the back of this shift, with petals and thorns describing her life. She believed that ‘a good wife knows her place’ and home, family, and cooking ability were her most prized possessions. The flower bud holds my mother’s photo, and the carrot cake recipe is hers.
The front of the shift is my generation. I became a teenager in 1969: the Vietnam War, Woodstock, and Neil Armstrong walking on the moon - a huge ending for a tumultuous decade. The 60’s saw deep cultural changes that I was not aware of until much later. In the 70’s we began to reap the benefits of the 60’s revolution. My life didn’t have to be like my mother’s: I didn’t have to get married and have kids right out of college and I could work and live alone if I chose! Towards the end of the decade my mother began saying, usually in a negative and fault-finding way, “You’re so independent!” She couldn’t fathom me living alone and unmarried. “You’re so independent!” echoed throughout the years, so I show her flower reaching over the shoulder with those words written on a thorn. Her tone did soften over the years until the words almost became a compliment!
Fast forward to my daughter’s generation. My shift opens to reveal some of the significant events and statistics for today’s women. Strides made during the 60’s and 70’s have opened up many opportunities for my daughter’s generation. If my mother thought I was independent, she should see my daughter! Today’s women have endless options. We truly have come a long way baby!