WE’VE COME A LONG WAY BABY

Lately the newspapers and airwaves are full of comments about the new "War on Women".  In this case it's primarily concern about a  war on women's reproductive rights, but in the not too distant past, the war was raging about many aspects of women's lives.  That's the fear of many who remember the "bad old days",  that we're regressing little by little back into those unenlightened times.

I admit, unfortunately I'm old enough to have lived through some of that history.

I had the privilege of meeting Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, and had three unpleasant encounters with an amazingly nasty, foul mouthed Phyllis Schlafly.

I marched for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in Peoria and Springfield, and lobbied the Illinois General Assembly, along with busloads of farm women bearing baskets of homemade bread to soften them up.  Then we watched in frustration as ratification failed.

Four decades ago, my male pastor informed me that women would never be allowed to enter the ministry.  If they wanted to serve God, they should teach in a parochial school.  For some unknown reason, it also took a male reproductive organ to light candles, serve on council, (unless you wanted to be the secretary), and pass an offering plate.  Now I have been blessed to have had a woman for my pastor.

No matter what the weather, girls had to wear dresses to school and church.  They also didn’t cut grass, take out the garbage, or have organized sports.  Those were boy things.  The only decent options presented to high school girls for non- homemaking careers were teaching and nursing.

A survey I conducted for one of my women’s studies classes at ISU back in the early seventies concurred with the prevailing attitudes that people wouldn’t use a woman lawyer, and would only go to a woman doctor for less serious ailments. 

Once, in high school, I was surprised to find myself in the non-college track English class.  My previous teacher, tracked me down, took me aside and told me I didn’t belong there, get out now.  I went to my advisor, only to have her tell me that it wasn’t necessary for a woman to go to college, that she could have a fulfilled life with a high school education.  Just find a man.  She advised me to take home economics.  I bugged them until they changed my class schedule, but it wasn’t easy.

At college, I once peeked at my records while my advisor was out of the room.  Imagine my surprise when I saw that when I told my high school advisor I wanted to try pre-law, he put in my records I wanted to be a legal secretary.  I had never taken a secretarial class in my life.  I have the utmost respect for secretaries, but that was not a skill set I had.

I remember when my mom found out that the man who held her managerial job previously, received a salary twice as large as hers. She confronted her boss and he said,” Why do you think we hired a woman? We can pay you less.” She went to the State’s Attorney for justice and was patronized and informed, “that’s how life is”.

I remember the “shot heard round the world” when Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the tennis “battle of the sexes”.

I could reminisce for pages, but I don’t have enough room.  Suffice it to say, as they said back then, “we’ve come a long way baby.”

But, we’re not there yet.  Women are apathetic about their rights, not appreciating the hard won battles of the past.  If they’re not diligent, those rights could slip away.  They still receive an average of 80 cents to a man’s dollar in the workplace.  The glass ceiling is above their heads, only now in stealth form, and just the thought of a woman running for president brings all the sexists out of the woodwork.  Lawmakers seem more adamant about laws protecting the flag, or English, than laws protecting women, especially our poor sisters.

So, as the new "War on Women" heats up during this election year, let’s remember the old adage, “Those who ignore the mistakes of the past, are bound to repeat them in the future.”