Oh dear me: But yes we have come a long way baby?

I shall illustrate:


“No one can have anything but admiration for a girl or woman who works to maintain a home which is bereft of father or brother, but…surely an attractive girl of 22 or 23 should find something better to do than drive a lift. At present girls and women are employed on numerous jobs which should be reserved for men, and it is difficult to understand the outlook of a firm which employs girls to work a lift in preference to a man.
Countless homes would be much better were the daughter at home helping with household duties instead of throwing a man into unemployment and distress and then spending the money so earned on useless pleasures.
No-one questions that there are certain occupations for which female labour is more suitable than that of men, but the employment of girl labour in all kinds of positions is wrong, and calls for immediate attention on the part of the legislature. The longer action is delayed the worse it becomes. So long as girls displace men in this way, so long will the girls be unmarried and without proper homes of their own.

I feel sure The Herald would do a service to the community by calling public attention to what to my mind is one of the most serious problems of the present time.”


Extract from a letter to the editor, The Herald, 4 July 1935.

The writer is a very senior person at The Swinburne Technical College.

Do I feel a catharsis in writing this post? At first I wanted to show how, 73 years later, women are successful and “accepted” in the workforce no matter what nature the employment takes - http://www.swinburne.edu.au/corporate/marketing/centenary/events/research-lectures/
Then I recall that smart women or silly women are still expected to serve in the house. A superwoman is usually one who is a scientist or a Board chair and raises children and takes them to school while being intellectually brilliant. A superman scientist is never described for his multi – skilling or how many times he goes to his childrens' sports events.