There was a very sick joke going around a few years ago. It was supposed to be what O.J. said when he was frustrated with all of his (original) troubles.
Women! Ya can't live with 'em. You can't cut their heads off!
Yes, I know. I shouldn't have said that. But I've been frustrated of late dealing with a large organization and their reluctance to deal with - or even discuss - an issue that primarily affects women.
Then there was an article in The New Yorker about nursing mothers that got a lot of flack. (It seems that nursing your baby is what you're supposed to do but not in public and especially not in the work place.)
Then my granddaughter asked me for my thoughts about the Women's Movement in the 60s - since I was there. She needed it for a school assignment.
Last night she called to tell me that her presentation went well. Wish I could have seen it. One of her instructors reminded them that one of the fears in the early 60s was that - if women got the birth control pill - we would all run away from home and have affairs.
Here are some of the notes I gave my grand daughter for her presentation:
- My life was greatly affected by the Women's Movement
- The first woman writer who impacted me was Eleanor Roosevelt. She died in 1962. She didn't write about women's issues - she wrote about world issues.
- The big issue in the beginning of the Women's Movement was birth control. I had four babies but I didn't have to have them. I chose to have them.
- Work for women prior to the 60s was mostly in school, office, factory or hospital. And as soon as they discovered you were pregnant - you were done. Yes, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg went to law school but she couldn't get a job when she graduated because she couldn't type.
- My husband and I did not have a traditional marriage. We negotiated (read that "argued about") most everything. We loved, respected and needed each other. He thought I could do anything. And now I'm blessed with another man who "gets" me in a completely different way. How'd I get so lucky?
- One of my favorite Bible verses is Genesis 1:27 "God created human beings in his own image;...male and female he created them."
I just read yesterday that the majority of men who've recently lost their jobs are spending their time watching TV and working out. Women who've lost their jobs are spending time with the kids and cleaning the house.
Guess the pill didn't chase us away from home after all.
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