Kamala

 

 

As an almost 80-year-old woman and a card-carrying feminist, I am ready to burst with happiness to see a woman as U.S. V.P. 

As a 16 year old cub reporter who looked barely 12, I had to fight to get in to cover some stories. Although I was shy, fear of my editor was greater than my fear of standing up for myself. He still called me "The Kid" and yelled at me about my typos and spelling errors. That did build confidence for future fights to be treated equally.

As a divorced woman, who needed a new (used) car to get to work so I could provide for myself and my daughter, I was denied a loan by our three-generation family bank. "Divorced women are unstable," I was told. My father trusted me and he made a number of loans to me over the next few years, all of which I paid back. His recommendation carried no weight with the bank.

I saw girlfriends who had excellent credit lose it, because they married a man with poor credit.

I've seen a Salvation Army officer go down a rank because her bridegroom was a rank below her. Her success depended on his.

Although white, when trying to get a loan for a house in a red lined district with two other people. Our combined salaries were greater than the purchase price of the house. Finally a loan officer granted it but he was also head of the loan committee.

When lobbying for the Equal Rights Amendment  I was told by various law makers, I should let my husband worry about things, and a little girl should be in school (I was 30) and I needn't bother my pretty little head about such things. 

After a conference, where in free time I went into the pool. One of the other attendees called my boss to say how good I liked in a bathing suit and what a pretty woman I was. My boss made some comment about how he never noticed. However, he also hired women for management positions because "they work harder and I can pay them less."

I refused to sew a button on male boss' pants but showed him how to do it.

At another company degreed women were often hired as secretaries. Some were promoted to their bosses' jobs when that boss left, always with the title of "Acting" before the full title at lower wages.

This is not just a U.S. problem. I was told in Switzerland I would be perfect for a job but I was too old and a woman. I could only change one of those and had no desire to do that.

In that same vein, they did appoint a women as head engineer but put her in a small office rather than the larger office occupied by her predecessor in fear that the all male engineers would be upset. Her lower salary wasn't an issue because within a week she did find a job paying $60,000 more.

Some of the well-run countries (Iceland, Finland and New Zealand) are run by women and Angela Merkel holds her own in a very masculine field.

My daughter has observed how after a meeting she, as the only female manager, is expected to clean up coffee cups and snack plates.

Will Kamala change all that?

Nope.

But as she stands on the shoulders of women who fought for rights, her shoulders will be a platform for others. 

Go girl for all of us.