Honestly, I was quite lucky. My father was raised to do household chores (quite rare in the Depression era, I would think). He also encouraged my sister and me to get an education so that we could support ourselves and use whatever talents we might have. My mother ended up going back to school, too-I think at least partly because she watched her sister end up with nothing after becoming a widow at a young age (after giving up school because he didn't want his wife earning more than he did).
My SIL was raised by parents who paid for her brother to go to college out of state-but she had to stay home and commute (because he was the one who would be supporting a family). She was also told that her only choices were teaching, or nursing. When her parents came to visit, she would take off from work and pretend to be a stay at home wife, while my brother, who at times was a stay at home Dad, had to leave the house during the day and pretend to be at work.
I've heard many variations of this-but this is already a long post. Let's just say there's a reason a lot of middle-aged and older women encourage girls to be serious about their educations.
It all seems like nonsense to me-even though I know that it was a different time.