On The Nomination of A Woman for President
Cyn 1973
The year was 1972 or thereabouts. I was front desk receptionist in a big office building in downtown Chicago. My duties included typing, clipping relevant newspaper articles and arranging them in a scrapbook for the publicity department, and preparing and serving coffee for my bosses, almost all of whom were male, while listening to comments about my appearance. These were not bad men, and the conspicuous appraisal of a woman's physical attributes was perhaps meant to be complimentary, but it's hard to describe how awkward and self-conscious and objectified it made me feel. There were one or two of those men who even sensed a spark of intelligence in me, wondered what I read and thought about and why I was not in school, and understood that I was capable of more challenging work.
But I do wonder if young women today can fully comprehend the framework in which we lived our lives, and how ordinary and accepted it was for women in the workplace (or just passing on the street) to be treated with jocular condescension, or worse.
The women's movement was at this point "second wave feminism" but still had far to go. To put it in context, in 1972 the National Women's Political Caucus was founded, Title IX of the Educational Amendments became law, the Fair Labor Standards Act was amended to expand Equal Pay coverage, and the first edition of Ms. Magazine hit the newsstands. Inequities and limitations based upon gender were known, talked about, and beginning to be addressed, and many of us felt a sense of discontent.
But we were not encouraged, and we accepted our roles, for as women we were trained first and foremost to please others. I doubt that I would have identified myself as a feminist, which was still something edgy and radical, but know that I aspired to something more.
"You've been reading too much of that women's lib nonsense," said my then-husband once when I tried to give voice to my frustration. He was a nice man, a medical student, paternalistic and well-meaning...but those are the times in which we lived.It may be hard for young people to imagine what a different world it was, what a hard-won (and still unfinished) legacy young women been given, and how historical, symbolic, and truly wonderful it is to see a woman Presidential nominee–and a strong, smart, capable one at that.