I’ve all the time been a fan of breaking glass ceilings, whether or not primarily based on ethnicity or gender. I believe it began as a result of I used to be raised by a single mother. She struggled to make ends meet working as a secretary, however gave us a very good life. Again then it was very exhausting for a girl to rise previous secretary. However by the late Seventies extra alternatives have been changing into obtainable, and on the age of 47 Mother broke by way of the glass ceiling and have become supervisor of the customer support division at Hunt Wesson, a place at which she carried out beautifully.
So I very a lot loved studying Higher Sooner Farther: How Operating Modified Every little thing We Know About Girls, by Maggie Mertens
This e-book chronicles the historical past of girls’s working, and societies notion of how “fragile” lady are generally. This was a notion that appeared to start out as quickly as there have been higher class girls who didn’t need to do guide labor. There was the widespread perception, together with within the medical occupation, that they, and their reproductive methods, have been delicate and so they shouldn’t pressure themselves an excessive amount of. The creator gave some astonishing examples of this, like stairways with half-height stairs being put in in faculties for ladies in order that they wouldn’t pressure themselves going upstairs. I all the time questioned how the instance of working class girls was ignored, together with the servants of the higher class. These lady did fairly strenuous work and their reproductive methods didn’t appear to get harmed. Maggie defined this for instance of racism mixed with sexism: working-class lady have been considered of “decrease breeding” in order that they have been nearer to their “animal nature”, making them extra sturdy. I’m glad we now reside in additional enlightened instances!
One of many traditional examples of how this “fragility” notion affected girls is the 1920 Olympics. It was reported broadly that a number of lady collapsed on the end of the 800 meter run. Primarily based on that it was assumed that they had overexerted. For many years girls weren’t allowed to run greater than 200 meters within the Olympics. Maggie defined how the proof for the collapse on the end was truly fairly doubtful.
One other apparent instance is that of Kathrine Switzer, the primary official feminine finisher of the Boston Marathon. She was instructed by numerous docs that her uterus would fall out if she continued with such lengthy distance working. I bear in mind having fun with seeing her being interviewed 50 years later and reporting her uterus was nonetheless intact!
Maggie goes over these and plenty of different in overlaying the fascinating historical past of girls and working on this extremely beneficial e-book.
One other Ceiling to Breaokay?
I usually keep away from overlaying politics on this discussion board, however I’m excited concerning the risk that we will break one other glass ceiling on Nov 5 by electing the primary lady president of the US. I like her forward-looking insurance policies. Folks might be reluctant to vote democrat as a result of the traditional pondering is that the economic system fares higher beneath republicans. However within the analyses I’ve seen, economists endorse Kamala’s financial proposals in comparison with these of her rival.
