The 1940s housewife has become an icon: sometimes celebrated, sometimes criticized, but always fascinating. These 39 images capture the women who held down the home front during one of the world's most challenging decades. While their husbands were overseas fighting the war, these ladies were managing households, raising children, and often working factory jobs too. From doing laundry with a smile to rationing recipes, from perfectly set hair to practical house dresses, these photographs show women who made the best of tough times with grace and determination. Whether they were your mothers, grandmothers, or neighbors, these women embodied a particular kind of strength that kept families and communities running when everything else felt uncertain.
#1 Mrs. Leslie Atkins Reading To Her Daughter Ann, Greenbelt, Maryland, Federal Housing Project, 1942
12points
#2 These Women Who Are Part Of The "Housewife Special" Are Boarding A Bus To Go Out And Help Save Marion County's Bean Crop
12points
#4 Surplus Fruit Goes Into The Market Basket Of A Memphis, Tennessee Housewife Who Is Exchanging Her Surplus Food Stamps For Food For Her Family, 1940
12points
#5 A German Housewife Uses One Of The Finished Helmet Saucepans In Her Kitchen, (1945 - 1975)
12points
#7 A Day In The Life Of A Wartime Housewife- Everyday Life In London, England, 1941
11points
#8 A London Housewife Leaves Her Local Butcher's Shop After Having Bought Her Meat Ration, 1941
11points
#9 Young Wife Of A Miner Drawing Water At The Tap In Her Kitchen, Wyoming County, West Virginia, 1946
11points
#11 Housewife Bargaining In The Store Owned By Mr. J. Benjamin, Washington, D.c., 1942
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11points
#12 Mrs. Garrity, Suburban Housewife, In The Kitchen Preparing Dinner, Yonkers, New York, 1942
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10points
#13 Housewife Reading In Living Room, Chicot Farms, Arkansas, 1939
9points
#15 British Housewife Puts Out Items For Salvage During 1942
9points
#16 Housewife Cleaning Doormat With Carpet-Beater, The Netherlands, 1955
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9points
#17 This Housewife Is Enthusiastic About Rea, And With Good Reason - Her Home Has Just Been Electrified, Harmony Community, Putnam County, Georgia, 1941
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9points
#18 A Day In The Life Of A Wartime Housewife- Everyday Life In London, England, 1941
9points
