With the news I’ve been reading this week about equal pay, and women dropping out of the work force, I offer up this story by writer Candida Korman about the working women who paved the way for us, and who got mad as hell and weren’t going to take it anymore:
“As far as I’m concerned feminism wasn’t about going out of the house to work, it was about getting respect for the work we were already doing. And, if possible, getting the promotions and raises and decision-making opportunities that men had. 1963 was the year that the Feminine Mystique was published.â€
“Betty Freidan, right?â€
“Yes. It was a very important book. Your mother was the first one to read it. She loaned it to my mother and then to me. We passed it on to other friends. We talked about it all the time. I was tired of the way my father favored your father over me. I was really tired of that. My Fred was dying and I was putting in late hours at work followed by trips to the hospital. I had two small children who kept asking about their father. I don’t think I slept more than five hours a week and when your grandmother sat me and your mother down to discuss the who would cook what for Passover, I exploded.
Candida (named for the G.B. Shaw heroine) is also a 2nd round finalist in Gather.com’s Chapter Writing Contest. Sort of like an ‘American Idol’ for publishing.
(Photo: Recipe Link)
