I've gotten the impression (from tv, US history in high school) that many women found new opportunities to work during WWII, and the culture (seen in Rosie the Riveteer ads) promoted this.
But as soon as the war was over, the culture went back to portraying them as housewives.
Why did this happen? I'm specifically interested in the role of women in aviation -- why did the Soviets have female astronauts but we didn't?
Are there any books/papers that I can read that would help answer my question?
During WWII, the image of the working woman was pushed to try and get more women to work. After WWII, companies didn't need the women anymore because of the influx of young male workers from the end of the war. American society in the 1950s and 60s pushed the image of an idealistic American household, with a father who worked a stead 9-5 job to provide for his family and a mother who stayed at home and watched over the children. The government actually considered the family to be a weapon against the Soviet Union, because our women didn't work. They thought it made us look like a classier society.
Source: Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!: An American History, Volume Two (3rd Edition)