The female employment rate in the Federal Republic rose from 44.4 percent in 1950 to 49.2 percent in 1957. This increase was driven by the general need for labor in the expanding economy and by the growing consumer demands of families. Still, many people saw female employment as a temporary measure, since they considered it incompatible with traditional gender roles within the family. A number of companies actually prepared young working women for their later lives as housewives by offering evening courses on household management. This photo shows women participating in a cooking course at the Hamburg Electrical Works.