Evening star. [volume], January 15, 1961, Page 11, Image 123

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
REVOLUTION IN THE AMERICAN HOME...
Who goes out most —
husbands or wives ?
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OR
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THEN: (fives stayed home, while husbands went out usually to play cards
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NOW : Hite’s go out tnore than husbands. Top recreations: for women, cards; for men, bowling
Look what’s happened to that old male privilege the "night out!” , gj|
By Dr. MARGUERITE L. RITTENHOUSE
A night out” used to be strictly the prerogative
of the man in the family. Father played
poker or pinochle with the boys while Mother
stayed home ironing and pickle-preserving.
But a just-completed This Week survey reveals
that this picture of the American home is as out
of-date as the old-fashioned icebox.
Today, it turns out, more wives than husbands
are taking an evening off. No fewer than 80 per
cent of the women interviewed spend at least one
evening a month "with the girls” playing cards,
bowling, theatergoing, visiting. Seventy-six per
cent of the men spend at least one evening a month
at a ball game, bowling, or other recreation.
This fact that women are getting out after
supper more often than men is Surprise No. 1
of the survey, based on interviews with 600
fconomirt and racial tnntift, Dr. RiHonhour* hat tfrwt sh. hit
thn. y*on in o rtvdy of family problomt, including flnanct,
location and l.irur. Um..
families, chosen from across the nation for an
accurate cross-section sample of the population.
Surprise No. 2 is the "recreation” that leads all
others in popularity with both men and women.
It’s going to meetings. PTA, school-building com
mittees, church-discussion groups, suburban town
meetings today’s fathers and mothers are evi
dently more concerned with the duties of citizen
ship than with cocktail parties, sports events or
other amusements. And an emerging pattern
nfmS *3 K. iwn W
Biggest night out for both sexes: going to meetings
seems to be that either the husband or wife goes
to the meeting, while the other parent baby-sits.
Here’s how wives and husbands respectively
spend their nights out in order of frequency:
Wives: Attending meetings; playing cards; going to
movies, theater or concerts; visiting and gossiping;
cocktail and dinner parties, bowling.
Husbands: Attending meetings; bowling; playing
cards; attending sports events; participating in sports
(other than bowling); cocktail and dinner parties.
None of the husbands in the survey went to
movies, the theater or concerts on their nights out.
In general, the "Nights Out” survey shows the
effect of basic economic changes on the American
home. Labor-saving appliances free more wives to
pursue their own interests. And in many cases,
evenings spent at meetings or just with the girls
provide a release from home-engendered tension.
As one woman put it, "There’s such a thing as
too darn much togetherness!” Th* End
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