You've Come a Long Way, Baby - Gender in Hiring

[Jim Wynne]

The thread title is a reference to a terrible ad campaign in the 1960s and 70s for Virginia Slims, a cigarette brand aimed at the female market. I thought of it when I found the letter below, addressed to a woman who was interested in doing creative work for Walt Disney Studios in 1939. It wasn't too long ago that the Help Wanted ads in newspapers were classified according to gender, and sex discrimination in hiring was a fact of life.

[palmer]

Wow,

It helps to see these types of things that were going on so the younger generation can get a full appreciation for how far we have advanced in discrimination..... we still have a very long way to go....

I'd have to say the the 2nd world war helped get women into the workforce more quickly due to need of bodies to keep the country running.

[Marc]

Look back 200 years. Or more... Think about it... Stone age men dragging women around by their hair...

There are a lot of people around the world even today who believe a "woman's place is in the home" (submissive to males as a general rule through all age groups). Some would say in some societies today females are chattel (aka Personal_property).

'Civilization' moves onward!



Mesolithic Man - Stone Age man had the time of his life