When Everything Changed

When I graduated from Palmerton High School in 1960, the girls in our class had very few options.  They could become nurses, teachers, secretaries, or housewives.  Many of them went to college, but they did not go to law school or medical school.  That was what boys did.

Gays and lesbians had to hide their sexual preferences.  Stewardesses were fired if they were married.  One airline ran an Executive Special in which only men were allowed to fly, although their cigars were lit and their drinks were served by slim “stews.”

It was possible for women to be doctors and lawyers, of course, but the schools had quotas for women.  The firm that hired Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, assumed she was applying for a secretarial position.  There were no female governors.  Female senators or representatives were anomalies.  

The Civil Rights movement was dominated by men.  The space program was dominated by men.  Sports was dominated by men.

Somehow in the space of about 25 years a great deal changed.  We can measure progress in two ways.  We can look back and compare today to back then.  Or we can look at were we are now and see the disparities that still exist.  I am fully aware of many of those disparities.  However, sometimes it is inspiring to look at battles won.  

I just finished When Everything Changed, a book by New York Times columnist Gail Collins.  She writes about women who battled on college campuses, in boardrooms, in the military, in sports, in government agencies, and in daily life to improve the lot of women.  The stories are inspiring and often anger inducing.  If you have a teenager, boy or girl, it would be a good thing if they read the book.

I should warn you that it was written in 2010, so there is nothing about the Clinton-Trump race or the “me too” movement.  We are not done with this.