FRAGMENTS | William Shrout and the American Houswife

In 1941, Life magazine sent the American photographer, William Shrout , to document the lives of housewives, who numbered approximately thirty million and were one of the largest demographics in the United States.

Jane Amberg from Illinois was chosen to represent the young, modern housewives of the middle class, and Shrout documented the routine life that was the lot of about thirty million women.

About two months after the publication of the article, Pearl Harbor was attacked and the USA joined the war, which led to a revolution in the number of women joining the workforce. From 1940 to 1945, their number rose from 14 million to 19 million, which raised their ratio from 26 to 36%.