| Transcript |
>%*js7*w0a&>70'
Bloomers and Ballots
by Mary S. Clarke
Viking Press, 1972
220 pages. $6.50.
By Carolyn Cosgriff
Elizabeth Cady Stanton grew up and lived
in New York during the 1800's, a time
when women were deprived of the right
to their own property, their own wages,
their own children, and even their own
persons.
It was a time when women could not
do anything about it, if a man wanted to
give their children away to some drunk to
pay off a gambling debt.
When Elizabeth was a child, sitting in
her father's law office, she was infuriated
when women came in beaten and crying
and Mr. Cady had to tell them that there
was nothing he could do because men had
the right to do almost anything they
wanted to their wives.
When Elizabeth got older her brother
Eleazer died. He was her father's pride
and joy. Elizabeth, seeing this, decided to
be just like a son to her father. She took
up horseback riding (side saddle) and got
her father to put her in a Greek class
which was only for boys.
After she got out of high school, she
wanted to go to college but no college
would admit a woman.
The following summer Elizabeth went
to stay at her cousin Gerrit's house who
was a strong abolitionist. He was always
having abolitionist guests over and that is
how Elizabeth met Henry Stanton, her
future husband.
1. She organized the first Women's
Rights Convention.
2. She helped draft the Declaration of
Sentiments which dramatized the legal
grievances of women.
3. She introduced a resolution advocating suffrage for wo men-the first
public demand by women for the vote.
Elizabeth said on June 1, 1860, "My
life has been one long struggle to do and
say what I know to be right and true. I
would not take back one brave word or
"My only regret is that I have not been
braver and bolder and truer in uttering the
honest conviction of my soul."
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton
After their marriage, Elizabeth met
Susan B. Anthony. No two people could
be more devoted to their cause than Elizabeth and Susan, after they got together.
They spoke all over the country. They
told people the only way for women to
have equal rights was through the vote.
Elizabeth continued working, dedicated as ever, until she was eighty-seven.
On her eightieth birthday, Elizabeth
saw in the paper that it was declared
Stanton Day in New York. Susan had prepared a big celebration for the event.
Elizabeth was very suprised for she wasn't
used to such praise since she had spent
most of her life hurling thunderbolts at .
the lawmakers.of the country.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an outstanding figure in the history of Women's
Rights. Some of her many contributions
are:
deed. My only regret is that I have not
been braver and bolder and truer in
uttering the honest conviction of my
soul."
I enjoyed this book very much. There
were no pictures in the book, but at the
end of each page there was a picture in
my mind. The author went into much
detail about the conditions of life at that
time which made me realize how important this person was to have changed
these conditions.
Carolyn Cosgriff, age 12, is a freelance
writer. She is in the sixth grade at West
Memorial Junior High, Katy ISD.
The Managerial Woman
by Margaret Hennig and Anne Jardim
Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1977. '
221 pages. $7.95.
By Cheryl Knott
Every woman who thinks she wants a
career in management should read The
Managerial Woman by Margaret Hennig
and Anne Jardim. This book explores
some important differences between the
conditioning of women and men, examines the backgrounds of 25 women who
made it to the top, and counsels the
reader on how she can succeed in management—if she is willing to pay the price.
The price is high, as Hennig and Jardim are careful to point out. To make it
in management the single woman must be
willing to sacrifice her social life and the
married woman must have an extremely
understanding husband.
Generally, the managerial woman must
postpone marriage during her beginning
years in the corporate world while she
works long hours, takes continuing education courses and brings paperwork home
in the evening. She should be prepared to
prove in every new situation that she is
capable, intelligent and unemotional, and
that she has learned the business skills of
gamesmanship, task accomplishment and
risk-taking-skills that most boys learn in
the process of growing up.
The Managerial Woman looks at the
differences in the way boys and girls are
raised and at how those differences affect
the woman who wants to succeed in the
"man's world" of executive-level management. For instance, men grow up knowing they will have to work. Women, on
the other hand, traditionally make career
decisions in their late twenties and early
thirties, a decade after the foundation of
a management career is usually established.
In pursuing the idea that men's and
women's dissimilar upbringings create
problems for career women, the authors
asked some corporate executives: "If you
had known on the day that your daughter
was born, that starting at the age of 20
she would have to work continuously to
survive, would you have done anything
different?"
One senior vice-president lowered his
head, then looked up, staring but not
speaking. After prompting, he finally
responded, "I don't think, I feel sick to
my stomach. If she has to work, then I've
done it all wrong."
As executives, these women felt more comfortable
as the queen bee in a group of men, and they found
other women boring or silly.
16
HOUSTON BREAKTHROUGH
APRIL 1978 |
