David B. is right on. And SimpleLiving is way off track. Women's rights involve CHOICE--the choice to stay home and raise children full time and/or to have a career. Women's rights also involve living under reasonable and humane expectations. To hold up Donna Reed as the ideal homemaker is a barbaric standard. If she is truly a role model, anyone trying to live up to her standards will be depressed and exhausted, if not downright insane. Indeed, on the show, Donna Reed has magical qualities to make everything work out in the end--but who has that in the real world?
Although we see her at home 99% of the time during the episodes, is she REALLY there for her children? Between all of her outside work (committees, ladies' luncheons, special events, hospital work, charity work, helping her husband with his pediatric business) and the huge amount of manual labor required for cooking/cleaning/laundry (far more than with today's homes, appliances, and products) how on earth does she magically have time and energy to make everything wonderful for her children (AND to fetch slippers for her husband?). Oh, and I forgot to mention her perfect appearance and her perfect house.
Of course she's a fictional character so she does manage all those things effortlessly. But what she accomplishes in a 24 hour day and a 7 day week has no basis in reality. It just seems absolutely wrong to tell women that these are the standards you are supposed accomplish.
All this aside, why do I love the show? Because I want a Donna Reed for my house. If she's not available, I'll settle for a Stepford Wife.
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