The State of the American Woman

Then: Her life revolved around family and a rambling Illinois farm. "I still feel the male sex should be dominant," Marcia Hueber told TIME in 1972. "I want my husband to feel he is the head of the household." Five years later, when the youngest of her four kids was in high school, she got a job scheduling appointments for a local veterinarian. She has also taken some community-college classes, but at bottom, she says, "I'm a farmer's wife."

Now: 'People who knew me couldn't believe I left the farm and got a job. One said to one of [my] sons, Is it really true that your mom has gone to work? His answer was, Yes! We are short on clean underwear and fresh cookies.'

Watch the interview with Marcia Hueber:

See TIME's 1972 story "A Gallery of American Women."