You've come a long way, baby!
To think this article was published only 50 years ago! It's hard to imagine a time when statements like these were the norm, and fully embraced without question.
Did my grandmothers feel this way? Did they eagerly study such “guidelines” as young girls preparing for a life of marriage?
I was at a conference here in Amsterdam last week on “Women and Leadership” and although the goal of the day was to empower women and help push them into the upper echelons of the business world, I left the day feeling slightly deflated by the reality of the situation. In Holland, women currently only occupy 7 percent of board seats in Dutch companies. And research by the Central Bureau of Statistics indicates that less than 6 percent of people earning in excess of EUR 100,000 in the Netherlands are women.
The attendees of the conference were mostly young Dutch women in their 20’s and although they had all made the effort to attend the conference ---something was definitely lacking in their passion for progress. The keynote speaker started her presentation by rattling off a set of bleak stats concerning women and the Dutch buisness world. She turned to the crowd and cried out “Is this fair?! Are we going to allow this to continue?!”--anticipating uproar from the crowd-- but all she got back was a soft unconvinced murmur from the crowd. Clearly disappointed she shouted back “If you’re not even going to fight for yourselves--don’t expect anyone else too!”
I remind myself that although the situation may sometimes seem bleak, articles such as the one above, from a 1950’s Housekeeping Monthly magazine, put it all into perspective. To quote Virginia Slims infamous slogan, “you’ve come a long way baby!”
When I started working here, I was rather taken aback by the dearth of women at senior positions too - now that I have been here for a bit, i can see why. Most women seem to prefer to quit their jobs or work part time in less demanding roles once they start a family and don't usually come back to work force - which is not necessarily bad, just that seems a lot more common here than in the rest of the world..
maybe conferences like these might be a good step in the right direction!
Hey sis,
Sorry to say, but this "article" is a fake; different versions of this text have been floating around the net, often attributed to a home-economics textbook from the 50s. A fine-young-photoshopper tweaked the text, and added the image.
However, there may be some truth to the contents, as the urban legend status is listed as Undetermined on Snopes:
http://www.snopes.com/language/document/goodwife.htm
No way! Really???
Hmm....does that also mean that story about the guy waking up in the bathtub of ice with no liver, also isn't true ;)
Darn...(well my sentiments still ring true at least)
Double darn, those clever brothers!
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