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For the middle and upper-class mothers and grandmothers of previous generations, by and large, there was no choice to be made-women were expected to stay home. According to historian and University of Minnesota Professor Elaine Tyler May, Ph.D., “In the years after World War II, the ideal [of a woman staying home] was backed by economic reality. Men were paid a ‘family wage’ ... it was possible for a large segment of American society [to rely on] a one-income earner who could support the whole family.” But it wasn’t that way for everyone, May said. “There was huge pressure for the breadwinner to provide for all of the family’s needs, [but] in most working class families, women did work outside the home, part-time if not full-time.” MORE »