I was recently chatting with a friend on Hive. She explained that one of her lecturers claimed the feminist movement of the 60s was not a revolution because it did not have its roots in economics. This is a rather startling, uninformed view of what happened in the 60s. Not only were the roots of feminism profoundly economic, but these roots reached much further back. Simone de Beauvoir, for example, wrote the Second Sex in 1949. Nineteenth-century novelist George Sand asserted feminist principles, in both her lifestyle and her writing.
Mural Depicting Feminists in Gandia, Spain
Credit: Francesc Fort. This mural, which depicts notable women throughout history, was painted by Toni Espinar in 2019. The picture is used under a CC 4.0 license. Simone de Beauvoir, figured in the middle of the image, was the lifelong partner of Jean Paul Satre. Her book, the Second Sex, helped to lay the philosophical groundwork for what is known as the Second Wave of Feminism. A Beauvoir quote: “Man is defined as a human being and woman is defined as a female. Whenever she tries to behave as a human being she is accused of trying to emulate the male.” (From U. of North Carolina, History Dept, Dr. Karen Hagemann)
But let's just stick to the 60s/70s in this essay, and my personal experience with feminism.
It's true there was a lot of symbolism and focus on symbolism in the 60s/70s (Ex: use of Ms. instead of Mrs. and Miss). The symbols, however, were just that: representations of an inequality that had profound economic consequences for women.
I'll start with me, and my first experience at work. I had been fortunate to attend a first-rate university, on full scholarship. This school was way beyond the reach of my family. I leaned on an older sister for housing and general support during those years. What I needed badly when I graduated was a big paycheck. I owed her, and there were other responsibilities that would fall on my shoulders.
I had a great degree. Decent skills. When I went to an employment agency for a job referral, they recognized my skills. They sent me to a prestige organization to be--a secretary. They liked my degree, my presentation and my literacy. But the one skill they really liked was my typing.
Original Packaging for Metoy Minor Toy Typewriter, (1950s?)
Credit: Jamillah Knowles. Used under CC 4.0 license. Notice the two women featured on the front of the box.
I joined many other women, younger and older, who were also working in support positions. Call them administrative assistants. Call them secretaries. They all sat outside the offices of their bosses. All the bosses, except one, were men.
Every woman I knew there had graduated from a prestigious university. My best friend at the organization was a research assistant. She sat outside an office, though she had graduated from Bryn Mawr, one of the so-called Seven Sister colleges, with honors.
Workplace Typist, 1955
Attribution: FOTO:FORTEPAN / Fortepan/Album004. Used under CC 3.0 license. I became a secretary in 1969. My clothes were different from those in the picture, but the dynamic between boss and secretary was not.
If an alien from another planet had walked around the building and noted the arrangement of offices in that organization, the logical conclusion would have been that people of my gender were inferior and people of the other gender were superior.
This gender distinction even extended to bathrooms. The men's bathroom, one could see when walking past a door that closed slowly, was a suite. The women's bathroom was the usual utilitarian tile and chrome arrangement. Whoever designed the office complex knew in advance the executives would be men and the support staff would be women.
I worked in that charitable organization for all of eight months. My research assistant friend helped me to scour newspapers for opportunities that would give me the paycheck I needed to meet my family responsibilities. She found one. The position was in a traditionally male oriented job. The salary advertised was 2 1/2 times my pay.
U.S. Space Program Administrators and President Johnson, 1965
Credit: NASA. Public domain. Back in 1965, it seemed perfectly natural and right that men would lead government agencies.
When I left the charitable organization for my new job, it created a bit of a stir. My new job would not only be in a field traditionally reserved for men, but it was essentially blue collar. An administrator of the organization congratulated me on my sense of adventure, when he heard about the salary potential. But the most memorable and wrenching response came from a senior administrative assistant. She had gone as high as it was possible to go in the support hierarchy.
"You're smart," this woman who looked to be about sixty years old said. "This is a dog's life."
There is No Rainbow
The transition to my new job was not smooth. Most days, I was the only woman in sight. Many of the men resented my presence. Though most of them were married, it was not uncommon for some of them to make advances toward me. I was, after all, 23 and single. My first defensive act was to buy an engagement ring with a very large cubic zirconium stone. It helped. However, the ring did not stop the more aggressive of my co-workers, who were intent on making my workdays miserable.
My Ring Looked a Lot Like This, Except the Band Was Gold Plated
Credit: Cs1791. Used under CC 3.0 license. In 1970, when I bought the ring, cubic zirconium was new and very cheap. The ring cost $6.00. Three years later, when I actually decided to get married, I had no interest in wearing a ring.
Why did the men resent me so much? I worked hard, harder than most of them. One of my colleagues told me why he didn't want me there. With refreshing honesty he said (approximately), "If women start taking this job, the pay will go down."
The informal resistance to my presence was reinforced by the administrators at work. For example, I wasn't allowed to attend classes that were preparatory for receiving a promotion. I had to threaten a lawsuit in order to be allowed to attend the class. In response to my threat, I and another woman who had joined the organization were allowed to attend, but we weren't allowed to sign the registration book. There would be no record of our having attended that class.
The Economics of Feminism
As I progressed through my early work career, it was obvious that economics were at the core of my experience as a woman. Barriers to my advancement were economic, and my resistance to those barriers were motivated largely (though not entirely) by economics.
It was an unavoidable fact of life that gender conferred economic advantage on men, and economic disadvantage on women. There was, it is true, a panoply of disadvantages associated with being female, but money was one of the most compelling. The feminist movement of the 60s and 70s was instrumental in combating that inequity.
Conclusion
When I started blogging on Hive and elsewhere I decided to be gender neutral. I used the initials a.g. I didn't want the baggage that came with my gender. Maybe that's a legacy of my past, but if I were to start again, I would still be gender neutral. I guess that's my idea of feminism. I feel pretty much the way Beauvoir did: think of me not as a woman, but as a human being.
Thank you for reading my essay. If the word 'feminism' is a trigger for you, I hope this essay will help you to understand why it is so important to some of us who came of age in the mid twentieth century.
Illustrations not otherwise credited in the blog
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