| Susan and Beverly were both born in 1938. These two women went through their teenage years during the 1950s. Both were pregnant and married in this decade of the revived Women's movement - a movement neither claim to have been very aware of or affected by. As is probably true with any point in history, these women lived individual lives that corresponded with the movements of mass culture at the time, but they also prove that these movements are lead by extremists that do not represent all those that they claim to. In this case, many women were not the bra-burning lesbians of stereotype, but these activists were not speaking of pure fiction when the complained about the conditions of women. Betty Friedan, a feminist spokesperson and leader whom neither Beverly nor Susan were familiar with, wrote a complaint in 1963 about a young female college student who turned down a fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in order to take a job in a real estate office. "All she wanted, she said, was what every other American girl wanted, to get married, have four children, and live in a nice house in a nice suburb. The suburban housewife was the dream image of the young American women and the envy, it was said, of women all over the world" (Friedan, Major Problems, 369). Beverly, who married at the age of 21, had four children, and lived in suburbs chuckled when she heard this quote. "That perfectly typifies me," she said. Susan, was married and then pregnant at the age of 19 was also divorced before the end of the 1950s. Yet, she agreed with Friedan's writing. "That's what you were taught," she said of staying home and having children. These ideas were taught this not only by families but also by popular media. "Nineteen-fifties mass culture had reinforced strict gender distinctions: women in the home, men in the work place; women as emotional, men as rational; women as sexual prey, men as predators" (Boyer, 346). Beverly agrees that distinctions were the norm and Susan says of dating in the 1950's, "If you went out with a guy, he was in control. Women only reacted." The views that these women hold, similar on some issues and contrasting on others, were influenced by very different social factors despite their corresponding time period. Susan graduated in 1956 from high school in the Bronx borough of New York City. Although there was a bad stereotype against women in the military, Susan joined the Air Force and served in Texas and Wyoming. Her family was not supportive of this. For some time, her father would not talk to her because of it. But, she loved her time in the Air Force. She was assigned to the communications field, working on teletype machines. She enjoyed the structure and the people and even 46 years later still sounds excited about that job. She admits that her options for work in the Air Force were limited. She would not have been allowed, for instance, to be a fighter pilot. But, there were still many options open to her and she was very happy with the one that she ended up with. But, these happy times in the Air Force were short-lived. After less than two years Susan, recently married to a fellow serviceperson, became pregnant. Such a pregnancy was against military policy, and she was honorably discharged because of it. She was 19 years old and married the father of her baby. After having the baby she returned home New York City and got a job with American Airlines doing the same thing she had done for the Air Force. She enjoyed this job also. She noted that females were definitely in the minority, they did the same work as males. In less than two years though, her marriage had ended and she was on her own. She later married again and had more children, including an adoption. But, this marriage was also not storybook perfect. Susan described herself during these years of the 1960s as "oppressed." She says, "I was definitely at the mercy of whatever my husband wanted to do. And, I wasn't very strong at the time so I allowed myself to be a victim." A feminist in 1970 wrote, "Women are an oppressed class. Our oppression is total and affecting every facet of our lives. We are exploited as sex objects, breeders, domestic servants and cheap labor. We are considered inferior beings, whose only purpose is to enhance men's lives. Our humanity is denied. Our prescribed behavior is enforced by the threat of physical violence" (Redstockings, Major Problems, 379-380). But, Susan does not believe all that. Although she was personally oppressed, and there are some men who are oppressive and some women who allow it, she does not "feel it is true to say all women were oppressed." This second marriage had also ended by the mid 1970s and Susan was left with no income. She had to work odd jobs for a while until she landed a job at IBM in 1976. She worked here for a long time and enjoyed the job. She praises IBM as a progressive company that treated women well. Although she was only a secretary, she feels she could have done more. In the 1990s, Susan married her third husband. She is still married to him now and describes him as being very wise to what is important to her as a woman. Their life together now seems enriching in a way that was not expressed as she described her earlier life. When Beverly graduated from her high school in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1956, she went on to study for a year at the Waterbury branch of the University of Connecticut. That was to be her only year of college. This was allowed, but not favored by her parents who said, "Women get pregnant and stay at home and what do you want to go to college for anyway?" That summer she got a job at the Southbury Training School, working with mentally and physically handicapped children. She also attended a summer course where she met the man that would become her husband. The combination of love for her job and falling in love with her husband caused her to not return to college. She says if she had not met her future husband when she did, she probably would have gone on to earn her bachelor's degree. But, she also says that if it were not for her, her husband would probably be a doctor instead just a medical technician. But, as fate would have it, a year and half after they met they married. She was 21 years old and had the first of four baby boys a year later. She spent the next 16 years as a full-time homemaker. She did not return to any type of work until her youngest son was in 5th grade, but she is quick to point out that her husband had to work two jobs during these years to support the family. In the late 1970s her family relocated from Connecticut to Maryland to follow her husband's new job. Soon after the move she got a job as a data entry clerk which she has held for the last 14 years. Now, at the beginning of the 21st Century her four boys are all adults. Three have been married; two have children of their own. Her life has been complete and fulfilling and she seems to share few of the complaints of the vocal feminists. In 1963 Betty Friedan wrote about an unspoken problem among women of that era. "The problem lay buried, unspoken for many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the twentieth century in the United States. Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night - she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question - 'Is this all?'" (Friedan, Major Problems, 368). But, Beverly does not sympathize with this problem. In her high school yearbook she listed two ambitions: to be a secretary and have a family. Forty years later she had accomplished both to the fullest and seemed glad because of it. Some feminists said that a women loses her "self" in marriage. Susan says that her self may indeed have ceased to exist during her first two marriages. It was not repaired until she began working again in 1976, and has remained intact during her marriage to her current, more sensitive husband. Beverly claims that marriage had an affect on her exactly opposite what the feminists claim. She feels she has "blossomed into a mature person who has absolutely not lost self but gained personality as a result" of their life together. One issue that Beverly and Susan agree upon is one that is generally contested by feminists. Feminists generally argue that, "there is no difference between male and female except the sex organs, and that all those physical, cognitive, and emotional differences you think are there, are merely the result of centuries of restraints imposed by a male- dominated society" (Schlafly, Major Problems, 385). But, Susan says that, "The only way I think women are less than equal is physical strength." Beverly agrees and takes it a step further: "Women in general are not as strong as men and need to take a subordinate role. They are made to have babies, made to be softer...there are women who deny that but that's not realistic." Perhaps the most important issue that Susan and Beverly agree upon is that there has been progress towards equality. Neither of their parents supported them going on to the military or college. Although Susan's early marriages were not healthy for her as an individual, they are both currently in marriages that support their individual needs. They have both worked at jobs where they say they were treated fairly and claim that women now have equal, or nearly equal, opportunities in the work place as men. Although neither denies that there is still some gender discrimination, at least one of Beverly's sons have married women who earn more money than they do. And although neither guessed that current statistics (57 percent of the work force was female in the 1990s and there are more women in colleges than men. [Boyer p. 470]) were as favorable to females as they are, both Beverly and Susan believe the next generation will be even more equal than it currently is. Return to Feminist page Return to Current Affairs page. Return to History page. Ryan's Writings main page. WORKS CITED Boyer, Paul. Promises to Keep: The United States Since World War II. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. Cofrancesco, Beverly. Personal interview. October, 2001. Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. Major Problems. Griffith, Robert and Baker, Paula. Major Problems in American History Since 1945. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Morgan, Robin. "Redstockings Manifesto." Major Problems. Schlafly, Phyllis. The Power of the Positive Woman. Major Problems. Stauffacher, Susan. Personal interview. October, 2001. |
| Women and Society: Women's Perspectives and the Feminist Movement by Ryan Cofrancesco |