Katie Britt Defiles the Sacrifices Made by Past Generations of Women
I’m no tradwife nor would I ever want to be. Ms. Britt got it all wrong. No woman in her right mind wants to go back to being a person who is lesser than a man simply because of her gender. So Katie? Listen up.
Each generation of women who have come before us have given us rights that make us who we are today. Truly they have made our lives easier. Like a prettily wrapped gift given to us, we accept it happily not always knowing how much the gift cost or how much time and diligence went into the packaging. We’re not always conscious of those rights and we sometimes simply take our ‘entitlements’ for granted. Being an educated woman and owning a home are two rights that I, for one, take for granted. College was not only available to me, but it was also my right. Home ownership was something I expected.
In my grandmother’s day women were allowed neither. My grandmother came from a well-to-do family in Italy yet she was not allowed to be educated beyond what was considered proper for females at that time; knowing the domestic arts and memorizing religious doctrines. She came to this country because the older man she married wanted to come to America. She came unwillingly with the mantra instilled in her by her mother that, “A woman must follow her husband” and a dictate from her father that “People will talk about a married woman living apart from her husband.” My grandmother was just 17 and scared.
With the money she brought with her, my grandparents bought a house though the mortgage listed my grandfather as the sole owner; woman were not allowed to own property without a husband, father, brother or other male relative signing the papers. In essence the house was never a woman’s property.
My grandmother’s money was frittered away by her husband with the rest of it being lost in the Great Depression. She raised 3 children while working long uncomfortable hours as a seamstress in a sweatshop because she didn’t have the ability to read English. She was a survivor.
The way she got the job became a funny family story. When she was shown a sewing machine by the foreman of the shop, (she had never seen one in her life) and asked if she knew how to work it, she said with an ingratiating smile: “This one is a little different from what I worked on at my last job. Can you show me how to do it just one time?”
He showed her, she remembered it, and got the desperately needed job. Later, my grandmother would also be one of the women who demanded short morning and afternoon breaks as part of a healthy working environment. Her foreman was impressed with her boldness, and gave the women what they wanted. He also asked my grandmother to leave her husband and marry him; he had money and she would want for nothing. My grandmother gently refused since, for her, marriage was sacred. Later she would join the The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and help make shop working conditions better for all seamstresses.
My mother came of age when girls were allowed to be educated but only at women’s colleges. She took full advantage of that fact and studied accounting although throughout her working life she worked only as a bookkeeper or executive secretary. Accounting, she was told in interview after interview, weas an occupation for men. When she was in her late 50’s she did finally get a position as a part-time accountant, a feat she always said was a triumph for her. It didn’t matter that it had taken so long, she was finally doing what she had wanted to do and that satisfied her.
As far as owning property, this intelligent, educated woman still had to have a “male co-signer” when she applied for a mortgage despite a hefty down payment. Women were seen as poor loan risks due to the anatomical fact that they “might get pregnant and thus be unemployable”. The unfortunate fact was that when a woman did apply for a job an employer was well within legal rights to ask the following questions:
Are you married?
Do you have children and, if so, will they be a distraction to your work here?
Do you plan to have children in the near future?
Imagine being asked this today! The prospective employer would be hit with lawsuits left and right, his business would get horrible press, and social media would skewer him.
A little side note: My mom’s generation, by the way, was the first generation to wear panti-hose instead of stockings and garters, (panti-hose first came on the market in the early 1960's), and to be able to wear slacks to work and school. They also opened the way for women’s sports to a certain degree even if being athletic was seen as unfeminine at that time. Her generation pushed for equal education for women. Many women became openly active in politics for themselves and not as an appendage of a male candidates. Yay for those pluses!
And my generation? We seem the most entitled; we have it all despite having the Equal Rights Amendment and Roe v. Wade shot down by those who have a problem seeing women and men as equal. We see ourselves as equal in all ways. Allowed is not a word we use when it comes to our rights. Things are not allowed for us, we expect certain rights and privileges. We are entitled, you better believe it.
We’ve given young girls the right to have their participation in school and recreational sports programs taken as seriously as those of boys and to see women’s professional sports become more prominent and lucrative. We’ve fought for, and gotten, more recognition of women in the military. Crucial military decisions are not simply a man’s work. We have improved women’s health care as well as prenatal care. Quality of life is an important issue for all. We can’t let it go away, Katie. You understand this, right?
Each generation of women has something impressive and life-changing to give to the next one. What we pass on to the next generation has an impact on generations of women to come. Let’s make sure we pass on rights of strength and quality.
By the way, the next time the next time you sign a legal document that makes you a property owner, or walk up to a podium to receive your degree, the next time you run for office or apply for a job, and yes, the next time you wear slacks to work, stop for a moment and say a silent thank you to the women who came before you and made the changes you enjoy. They’ll be happy you remembered.
© 2024 Copyright Kristen Houghton all rights reserved
