Interview of the Feminist Generation

Beth was born in the rise of the post war era.   Their family style resembled that of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, 1963.  In her writing she talks about how women’s main goal was to please their husbands in anyway.  This entailed them to clean, cook and bear multiple children. Many of these house wives have no college education and are bound to this life.  Freidan states “these are not career women; these are women who’s ambition is marriage and children” (1963).   Beth's mother was a stay at home mom, while her father was the “bread winner”; and in their home dads’ priority was “dad’s priorities”.

The work force in the sixties was completely blue collar.  Her father worked in manufacturing for the US steel.  This is how her father provided for the family; this for them was middle class.  Although the work force didn’t welcome women in, Beth was eager to work. She admired independence; so she joined the work field at a young age.  Beth began engaging in “Reproductive work” as a way to earn wages.  She started off baby sitting and cleaning houses; which reflects a gender division of the work women can do.  However did not continue upon this gendered role. She wanted to express her creative side and show there was more to her, she then landed a job at Burger King, where she was “Shift supervisor”. 

There were many issues women had to face in the work field.  As she continued climbing the ladder of the work field, these things became more apparent.   On a personal level she experienced what would be called a “hostile work environment”.  “Cat calling”, among the work place was common, but she ignored it.  Other issues that stood out were things like women not receiving promotions or women not receiving equal pay although they may have worked just as hard as men.  This is known as the glass ceiling; which can have many stereotypical ideas tied to it (Brown 2013).  Occupational segregation was also evident. For example, for women it was all work and no slack in order to keep their spot in the work place.  Along with that most of the fields were male dominated; leaving very few professional jobs for women.  However Beth persevered and let her creative side show in her work to gain respect. 

She soon went off to college to study Marketing and Journalism.  Her mother was very supportive of her decision and considered it as a good thing. On the other hand her father was critical and felt that she was not fulfilling her gender role.  This is a typical way in which society sees as ‘“mothering” or “fathering”.   Mothers are expected to be encouraging and nurturing which is seen as natural for women (Brown, 2013). Fathering is the idea that fathers are more strict and seen as disciplinarians in this case Beth’s father was (Brown, 2013).

However, the strictness only pushed her to keep going. Throughout college she was involved in numerous interns; which were all paid.  She feels that education is very important, she expresses this by saying “In order to grow we are always learning, and this is what makes life interesting.  Her attitude about education reminded me of Adrianne Rich’s article claiming an education.  Rich says that education is your responsibility as a women, and if you don’t feel as if you earned it claim it (Rich, 1979).  “Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do the thinking, talking and naming for you: it means learning to respect and use your own brain and instincts…” (Rich, 1979).  This is exactly what Beth did; she didn’t let her father’s view of gender stop her from claiming her education. 

Although the men in the sixties, as well as, her father didn’t approve of women furthering their education and working outside of traditional household norms, one man did; her husband of twenty-six year.   Beth and her husband were together for three years before they married; they were high school sweet hearts.  I admired how highly she spoke of him and the relationship they shared.  Beth and her husband had an “equal marriage”; which is very rare.  They’d wake up in the morning spend one hour together, and the next few hours were spent doing house chores which they split equally.  This is similar to Jarvis “Who Wants to Marry a Feminist”?  In the writing she explains how marriage for her is emotional, filled with love and companionship (Miya-Jarvis, 2000).  Miya Jarvis also explains how she and her husband have and equal marriage in which her husband’s cooks from time to time and even share house chores.  An equal marriage is the total opposite from the head/complement marriage Beth’s parents had in the fifties.  Beth’s father also had a hard time accepting the equal marriage approach and felt that her husband should be the head and it was his duty to make it clear of the roles women and men shared in marriages. 

Despite this, growing up Beth always saw herself as a leader. She was encouraged by her two grandfathers, who told her she could be anything she wanted to be.  Gloria Steinem was also an influencing role-model who she admired.  She admired her because Steinem was a woman who fought for women:

"I feel I owe her for playing a significant role in allowing me the choices I have had as a female in my life for  example attending college, being a career mom, striving to compete and earn a competitive salary, being in a marriage relationship of "equals" (Beth, 2010).

Other feminist figures that influenced her included Olivia Snow, who was a political figure who supported feminism. She also mentioned Emily Dickenson who expressed feminism through poetry.  Because of these role-models she always had the mid set of “expecting she would be equal”.   

 

Beth, G. (2013, June 13). Interview by Lavasha Smith . Interview of women’s studies; Insight of the feminist generation.

            Brown, A (2013). Domestic labor, slide 4

            Brown, A (2013). Paid Labor, slides 4, 6, 7

            Freidan, B (1963). The Feminist Mystique. . In S. Shaw & J. Lee (Eds.), Women’s voice; feminist visions (5th ed., p. 23). New, NY: McGraw Hill.

            Miya- Jarvis, (2000). "Who Wants to Marry a Feminist"? In S. Shaw & J. Lee (Eds.), Women’s voice; feminist visions (5th ed., p. 23). New, NY: McGraw Hill.

            Rich, A. (1979). Claiming an Education. In S. Shaw & J. Lee (Eds.), Women’s voice; feminist visions (5th ed., p. 23). New, NY: McGraw Hill.