MACMILLAN Gender, Work and Education in Britain in the 1950s

Improvements in education and economic expansion in the 1950s ensured a range of school-leaving employment opportunities. Yet girls' full acceptance as adult women was still confirmed by marriage and motherhood rather than employment. This book examines the gendered nature of 'career'. Using both written sources and oral history it enters the theoretical debate over the significance of gender by considering the relationship between individual 'women' and the dominant representation of 'Woman'.