“The Woman Who Works Does Not Create Any Social Problems”: Women, Work, and Consumerism in 1960s Argentina

1960s Argentina was marked not only by political radicalism and economic instability, but also by debates that grappled with changes traditionally considered part of “private” life.  Middle class women increasingly sought work outside the home, assuming roles that had until then been widely considered “masculine”.  The rapidly expanding media, especially magazines, influenced these changes, but also vigorously debated women’s supposedly changing role in society and what their newfound social and economic independence meant to Argentina.  For instance, male-run magazines treated women throughout the decade as a new and unknown demographic of the Argentine population who had to be studied and understood.  Following a contemporary fascination with large quantitative sociological studies, the general interest magazines Primera Plana and Panorama consistently surveyed women on their views on marriage, divorce, sexuality, birth control, working outside the home, and similar topics.  The surveys found that women were not only profoundly unhappy in their marriages, but also sometimes had shockingly modern views that reflected an “unhealthy” desire for “independence” (according to magazine editors).  These magazine writers and other intellectuals sustained that part of what inspired these changes in beliefs and behavior was caused by an increased materialism, brought on by a newfound consumerism.  They argued that women, aided by their new washing machines and vacuum cleaners, worked outside the home and had fewer children because they were obsessed with material pursuits, such as the purchase of televisions and clothes.  Using magazines, oral histories, and census data I argue that while young porteño hippies could be dismissed by more conservative elements of society as outlying radicals, the push of middle-class wives and mothers for an expanded role in society as both professionals and consumers was considered by porteño intellectuals as a more dangerous and permanent threat to the Argentine social fabric.