"What is sad for women of my generation is that they weren't supposed to work if they had families. What were they going to do when the children are grown - watch the raindrops coming down the window pane?"

In this quote, Jackie Kennedy is revealing her sadness for the ladies of her generation who were anticipated to prioritize their functions as wives and mothers over their own professions. She highlights the social expectation that women should not work if they had households, and the minimal alternatives they were entrusted to as soon as their children were grown. Kennedy recommends that these women were entrusted absolutely nothing to do but watch the raindrops fall, symbolizing a sense of emptiness and lack of function. This quote clarifies the gender functions and expectations put on women during that time duration, and the constraints and challenges they faced in pursuing their own ambitions and objectives.