First Person Singular » How Did We Get Here?

Early Typecasting

wendy — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:25:14 +0000

One of the early model typewriters, which received its patent on this day in 1868, had flowers printed on its casing so that the weaker sex would feel more comfortable using it. And use it, we did. While being a secretary was originally a job for men, the invention of the typewriter brought unprecedented numbers of women into the workforce and by 1910, according to the Census Bureau, 81% of the professional typists (or type writers) were female. After all, we worked for cheap. Here’s the earliest record of an ad for women typists, placed in a New York paper, on December 15, 1875 by Remington:

Mere girls
are now earning from
$10 to @$20 a week
with the “Type-Writer”
and we can secure good situations
for one hundred expert writers on it
in counting-rooms in this City.

When It Paid To Be Single

wendy — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 23:39:13 +0000

Today we celebrate the anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, whose passage by the U.S. Congress, at long last, gave women the right to vote. It was a protracted, vicious battle, which began in earnest more than 70 years earlier, in 1848, at the women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. But the opportunity for diverse employment took decades longer and one of the first prized professions open to women was becoming a stewardess. There were strict rules in the early days. You had to be single, a registered nurse, under 115 pounds and less than 5’4” tall. It took until 1968 and the second wave of feminism for these rigid job conditions to be eliminated. Here’s some hard-to-imagine trivia from the archives of United Airlines:

United in 1953 introduced “Executive” all-male passenger flights. The men enjoyed free gifts such as cigars, which the stewardesses often lit for them. A reporter for Playboy magazine wrote, “…the only girls aboard are a couple of unobtrusive stewardesses…”

Photo by Wallace Kirkland, Life Magazine, 1947. “Perfect Posture, McConnell Air Hostess School.”

“No woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor”

wendy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:03:22 +0000

The orgasm quote is from the late, great, Betty Friedan (February 4, 1921- February 4, 2006). The Feminine Mystique, her seminal book published in 1963, shattered the myth of the contented housewife:

Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night — she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question — “Is this all?”

Why It’s Great to Be Single on Valentines Day, reason #3 from Emily:

Ah Valentines day – My husband and I like to use it as an opportunity to get into a raging fight over unmet expectations. I’ve been married 13 yrs and I swear Vday never ceases to be disappointing. Real love and such sentiments come when you least expect them and don’t demand them. Also, small children find beautiful ways to joyfully celebrate Valentines day – and it has nothing to do with coupling, “romantic love” or sex. maybe they are on to something…