Margot Leadbetter was part of the mid 70s, not 50s.
I'm wondering how many people on here who are stating 'facts' about life in the 50s were actually even born in the 50s.
50s housewife might look at modern women's lives and think how awful life must be for them having to work full time and run a home, to have to be seen to be 'having it all' and coping with all the pressures that brings.
And the idea that marital rape and domestic violence was a 'normal' part of most 50s housewives' lives? How can the posters on here who state that know exactly how many women lived lives like that. Was it any more rife than it is now? Have you compared the statistics? Do you know exactly what goes on in your neighbours' houses or in your street?
Yes, of course these things occurred but is life that different for many women nowadays? Yes, many women will managed to get themselves out of their awful situations, probably more than in the 50s but for far too many women domestic violence and rape are still a daily occurrence.
I suspect that just as many women live lives of quiet desperation now as in the 50s. We still haven't got rid of the women's shelters, they've been around since the beginning of the 70s. Over fifty years later they're still needed.
I have known a lot of women who would have been housewives in the 30s, 40s and 50s, women who were mentally and physically strong, women who built up their own small businesses or ruled their homes with a rod of iron. I don't make the assumption that all women of that era were like that and likewise we shouldn't make the assumption that all 50s wives were Stepford Wives.
Yes their lives were different from today's women and for some life was hard and brutal, but they weren't all downtrodden drudges.