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 great life. Again then it was very arduous for a lady to rise previous secretary. However by the late Nineteen Seventies extra alternatives have been turning into out there, 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 Quicker Farther: How Operating Modified All the pieces We Know About Ladies, by Maggie Mertens
This e book chronicles the historical past of ladies’s working, and societies notion of how “fragile” girl are usually. This was a notion that appeared to begin as quickly as there have been higher class ladies who didn’t need to do handbook labor. There was the widespread perception, together with within the medical career, that they, and their reproductive methods, have been delicate they usually shouldn’t pressure themselves an excessive amount of. The writer 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 puzzled how the instance of working class ladies was ignored, together with the servants of the higher class. These girl 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 girl 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 ladies is the 1920 Olympics. It was reported extensively that a number of girl collapsed on the end of the 800 meter run. Based mostly on that it was assumed they’d overexerted. For many years ladies weren’t allowed to run greater than 200 meters within the Olympics. Maggie defined how the proof for the collapse on the end was really fairly doubtful.
One other apparent instance is that of Kathrine Switzer, the primary official feminine finisher of the Boston Marathon. She was advised by varied docs that her uterus would fall out if she continued with such lengthy distance working. I keep in mind having fun with seeing her being interviewed 50 years later and reporting her uterus was nonetheless intact!
Maggie goes over these and lots of different in overlaying the fascinating historical past of ladies and working on this extremely beneficial e book.
One other Ceiling to Breaok?
I usually keep away from overlaying politics on this discussion board, however I’m excited in regards to the chance that we are able to break one other glass ceiling on Nov 5 by electing the primary girl president of the US. I like her forward-looking insurance policies. Individuals might be reluctant to vote democrat as a result of the standard considering is that the economic system fares higher underneath republicans. However within the analyses I’ve seen, economists endorse Kamala’s financial proposals in comparison with these of her rival.
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