WOMEN: PROGRESS IS SLOW

 (My Winter Texan friends, Nancy, and Dennie Moeller, loaned me Life Magazine's June 1992 issue. The front page of the magazine was entitled “If Women Ran America. How Things Would Be Different in Washington, in the Cities, at Work, and at Home.” They thought it might be of interest to me. It was, indeed.)

LIFE magazine’s 1992 editor commented that in 1946, LIFE challenged women to “show normal political gumption” and vote themselves into office. “The American girl is very pretty and smart, too,” they wrote. There’s nothing like condescension to encourage a woman to run for office! By the early ’50s, LIFE was running portraits of the nine “ladies” in the 82nd Congress. In 1962, they ran a story about “How Nice to Be a Pretty Girl and Work in Washington.” Ugh! Germaine Greer was featured on the cover in 1971 and was declared a “Saucy Feminist That Even Men Like.” (There are currently 117 women in the US House of Representatives and 24 women in the US Senate. Unfortunately, a couple of the female US Representatives are mired in conspiracy theories and are Trump devotees who fell off the turnip truck.)

LIFE began their story about women in politics for the 1992 issue with an old joke: If women ran America, there would never be a war, just intense negotiations every 28 days. LIFE enlisted Gallup to poll men and women on several significant issues confronting Americans in 1992. One of the questions was, “If women ran America, would abortion be legal?” Overall, men were slightly more supportive of legal abortion. Age, rather than sex, was a telling factor. 53% of younger women, ages 18 to 45, favored access to legal abortion “always” or in “most” circumstances, while 36% of women over age 45 agreed. As of May 2020, Gallup reported that 29% of polled believe abortion should be legal under any circumstances. 50% think abortions should be legal under certain circumstances, and 20% report that abortions should be illegal in all cases. The anti-choice/anti-abortion movement seems to have gained ground.

Another question asked in the 1992 Gallup poll was, “If Women Ran America, Would There be Greater Equality for Working Women?” Unequal pay for equal work, sexual harassment, discrimination in hiring and promotions, and childcare—all were rated by more women than men to be “very serious problems” for women. Men were likelier to label most of these issues “somewhat serious.” Women’s top concern was pay equity. Two-thirds rated it a severe problem, while only half of the men polled agreed. In 1992, women made o,n average of $25,791 compared to men at $36,436 (70.8%). According to the National Committee on Equity Pay, we’ve limped to 82% as of September 2020.

We haven’t made significant progress in almost 30 years. Many of us were victims of pay inequity in our professional lives. Some of us had to endure men in powerful positions taking advantage of us in numerous ways. How will we ever change the culture of women being considered less valuable than men? I believe we need to keep fighting for pay equity, free childcare, access to abortions, for a seat at the table…in Congress and the Board Room. Shirley Chisholm once said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, think a folding chair.” In one of her best speeches, Elizabeth Warren stated, “If you don’t have a seat at the table, then you’re probably on the menu.”

Let’s support women running for office. Let’s find boards to join. Let’s fight for equality. We can never give up or give in.