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Yay for lunchtime!
It means I can sit down and do some real reading on home ec textbooks!
In the 1970 book, we are lectured on proper behavior at concerts:
And finally, there is a section on behavior on the job that acknowledges that women might actually work outside the house! At a job! For money! OK, it assumes you're doing it because you have to earn money, not because you find outside work more fulfilling. Baby steps, baby steps. There are also four photographs in the chapter, two of which show women (and one man) working in secretarial/receptionist jobs, one titled "Cooperating on the job" which, when examined closely, shows three male and one female high school students in a classroom trying to make a projector work,* and one illustrating an interview, I think, where a young girl in a sweater and short skirt is very stiff and smiling while an older man in a check jacket is leaning forward at her. I'm getting way different vibes from that last photo than they intended.**
The 1959 book had one sentence in the section that talked about helping your mother around the house that said many mothers might have to work, in which case she deserves your extra help. But only as the last sentence in a couple of paragraphs that assume the real reason your mother is out of the house and not staying behind and cleaning it is that she is volunteering (as is her civic duty!).
I will say, however, that in the exercises at the end of the chapter in the 1970 book, the list of jobs they ask you to find out the job skills for are primarily stereotypical women's jobs, all dealing with caregiving, food service, or children: waitress, baby-sitter, cook, nurse's aid[e], teacher, nursery school teacher, food service supervisor in a hospital. Now if only that last were a CHILDREN'S hospital, we'd have the Chick Job Trifecta! (At least it's a supervisory job. Small graces.)
The chapter about civic duty has an entire section devoted to committees.
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* The girl is the one reading the directions. Make of that what you will.
** Also interesting: the differences in attitudes about skirt length. The girl in the photo has a loose, high-necked, long-sleeved sweater that is, however, paired with a skirt that exposes about 6-8" of her thigh above her knee when she sits down, and the text on the page warns: "Some women wear tight-fitting, skimpy clothes to attract the attention of men. This is not the proper way to dress for a job. You can lessen your chances for job success if you do dress this way."
I recall my seventh-grade English teacher telling us that when she was in college, about this time, the skirt length that was fashionable was, when you were standing with your arms against your sides, no longer than the middle of your hand. Which would explain why the skirt in the photo would be considered modest enough for the workplace. Wrapping my brain around that ... hard. XD
In the 1970 book, we are lectured on proper behavior at concerts:
At some concerts, you are expected to do foot-stamping or soulful mourning. Such events might be jazz concerts, folk music festivals, or concerts of the popular teen-age idols. Make sure you are in the right place when you stamp your feet and express your feelings about a singer or music group.Oh, you wacky kids with your "jazz" and your "folk music"!
And finally, there is a section on behavior on the job that acknowledges that women might actually work outside the house! At a job! For money! OK, it assumes you're doing it because you have to earn money, not because you find outside work more fulfilling. Baby steps, baby steps. There are also four photographs in the chapter, two of which show women (and one man) working in secretarial/receptionist jobs, one titled "Cooperating on the job" which, when examined closely, shows three male and one female high school students in a classroom trying to make a projector work,* and one illustrating an interview, I think, where a young girl in a sweater and short skirt is very stiff and smiling while an older man in a check jacket is leaning forward at her. I'm getting way different vibes from that last photo than they intended.**
The 1959 book had one sentence in the section that talked about helping your mother around the house that said many mothers might have to work, in which case she deserves your extra help. But only as the last sentence in a couple of paragraphs that assume the real reason your mother is out of the house and not staying behind and cleaning it is that she is volunteering (as is her civic duty!).
I will say, however, that in the exercises at the end of the chapter in the 1970 book, the list of jobs they ask you to find out the job skills for are primarily stereotypical women's jobs, all dealing with caregiving, food service, or children: waitress, baby-sitter, cook, nurse's aid[e], teacher, nursery school teacher, food service supervisor in a hospital. Now if only that last were a CHILDREN'S hospital, we'd have the Chick Job Trifecta! (At least it's a supervisory job. Small graces.)
The chapter about civic duty has an entire section devoted to committees.
--
* The girl is the one reading the directions. Make of that what you will.
** Also interesting: the differences in attitudes about skirt length. The girl in the photo has a loose, high-necked, long-sleeved sweater that is, however, paired with a skirt that exposes about 6-8" of her thigh above her knee when she sits down, and the text on the page warns: "Some women wear tight-fitting, skimpy clothes to attract the attention of men. This is not the proper way to dress for a job. You can lessen your chances for job success if you do dress this way."
I recall my seventh-grade English teacher telling us that when she was in college, about this time, the skirt length that was fashionable was, when you were standing with your arms against your sides, no longer than the middle of your hand. Which would explain why the skirt in the photo would be considered modest enough for the workplace. Wrapping my brain around that ... hard. XD
Re: skirt length
Re: skirt length
That being said, yesterday on campus I saw a girl walking along wearing a sleeveless, floaty dress that was so short that she couldn't bend over to pick anything up without putting on a show (and I think sinking down from the knees would have been hazardous, also!), and it took me the longest time to work out that it was indeed a dress and not a swimsuit cover-up. (She was heading in the general direction of the athletic complex, so it could have been that.)
As my mom put it once, when we were standing in line behind a woman who didn't realize her shorts were practically transparent: "It's a good thing she doesn't have any holes in her underwear, or we'd all know!"
* Which, come to think of it, are going out, right? I work on a college campus; you'd think I'd pay more attention to what they're wearing.
Re: skirt length
Last week I saw a 14yrold Cindy-Lauper-Madonna-somethingorother walk down the street. It was a bit surreal. I brace myself for whenever the shoulder pads and flowery tights return. The latter, is my personal fashion apocalypse.
Re: skirt length
I made one of those ensembles in Home Ec in 1971! All the other girls made theirs in peppy neon/acid floral prints! I made mine in beige, brown, and black tapa-cloth-inspired stuff!
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That was the era when Spuds MacKenzie, the Budweiser dog, was so popular that they eventually gave up trying to ban Spuds MacKenzie T-shirts and allowed people to wear them as long as they applied tape over the Budweiser logo.
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