History Lesson

[rolanni]

Go read this. Yes, now. I'll wait.



...I remember my father teaching me how to fix my own car, because it was clear from a young age that I would never have a chance to marry and thus have a husband to properly do these things for me.

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

My mother graduated from college, Phi Beta Kappa, at a time when women had just gotten the vote. Jobs available -- teacher or librarian. My grandmother graduated from the conservatory, gifted operatic-grade singer, jobs available -- mother.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

My mother graduated high school, got a job as a secretary, married my father and, at his insistence, quit to be a stay-at-home mom. Bad, bad mistake, there.

My grandmother, one of seven children (six girls, one boy), of a milkman, somehow achieved a fourth grade education. Even more startling is that, in her teens, she went to stenography school and ultimately got a job as a typist. She quit when she married my grandfather (first a taxi driver, the a cop), and went back to work when he died.