Lives of. Career Women Approaches to Work, Marriage, Children

Transcription

1 Lives of Career Women Approaches to Work, Marriage, Children

2 Lives of Career Women Approaches to Work, Marriage, Children Edited by Frances M. Carp, Ph.D. Wright Institute Berkeley, California With a Foreword by Robin B. Kennedy, J.D. With a Prologue by Albert I. Rabin, Ph.D. 0 Springer Science+ Business Media, LLC

3 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Lives of career women: approaches to work, marriage, children I [edited by) Frances M. Carp; with a foreword by Robin B. Kennedy; with a prologue by Albert I. Rabin. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Women in the professions-case studies. HD6054.L dc CIP ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Springer Science+Business Media New York Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1991 An Insight Book All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher

4 Contributors Frances Merchant Carp, Ph.D., Research Psychologist, Wright Institute, Berkeley, California Nancy McCall Clish, M.D., Founder, San Jose Women's Medical Group, Inc., San Jose, California Wilma Thompson Donahue, Ph.D., Director Emeritus, Institute of Gerontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan Josephine Rohrs Hilgard, M.D., Ph.D., Psychiatrist Emeritus, Stanford University Hospital, Stanford, California I. M. Hulicka, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Psychology, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York Jacquelyne Johnson Jackson, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Duke University Medical School, Durham, North Carolina Jacquelyn Boone James, Ph.D., Research Associate, Henry A. Murray Research Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts Lois Mailou Jones, Distinguished Artist, Meridien House International, Washington, D. C v

5 vi Contributors Robin B. Kennedy, J.D., Staff Attorney, Office of the General Counsel, Stanford University, Stanford, California M. Powell Lawton, Ph.D., Director of Research, Philadelphia Geriatric Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Helena Znaniecka Lopata, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois Lisa Redfield Peattie, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts Albert I. Rabin, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology Emeritus, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan Catherine Scofield Rude, Retired Teacher, Public School System, Nyack, New York Margaret Collins Schweinhaut, State Senator, Maryland State Legislature, Annapolis, Maryland Beverley L. Thomas, R.N., Retired Administrator, Sacred Heart Hospital, Eugene, Oregon Marie McGuire Thompson, Retired Commissioner, United States Public Housing Administration, Washington, D.C Ruth B. Weg, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California Vivian Wood, Ph.D., Professor of Social Work Emeritus, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin Shirley F. Woods, Archdeacon, Episcopal Diocese of California, San Francisco, California 94108

6 Foreword Viewpoint of a Young Woman Lawyer Robin B. Kennedy, J.D. A story is told about the singer Connee Boswell. In her seventies, long after her heyday as a singer with the big bands of the 1930s, a reporter asked her what it had been like to be a star in the Swing Era. "Geez, honey," replied Boswell, "If I'd known it was an era, I would of paid more attention!" The stories that follow reveal two extraordinary things about the contributors' lives and work. First, they lived those stories in an era in which traditional gender roles went unchallenged, feminist ideology was unknown, and society provided no infrastructure for educating or employing professional women; everything they did, they did on their own, against horrendous obstacles and in contravention of societal norms and expectations. Second, they were apparently unaware that they were establishing themselves as role models for a later generation. They pursued intellectual and professional excellence for its intrinsic value, not to change the world or to teach anyone else a lesson. Few female high-school graduates in the class of black or white-would be thought unusual if their goals invii

7 viii Foreword eluded attending college and ultimately pursuing independent professional careers. The early decades of the century did not afford the luxury of such expectations to young women. Yet the sixteen whose stories are portrayed here defied the ordinary and the usual in their pursuit of skills and education and in their trust in the capacity to use the serendipitous. Through the words of one of the contributors we are asked to believe that "much credit is due to Lady Luck." Perhaps. But these women have more in common than having been in the right place at the right time. They had the courage, imagination, and tenacity to embrace Lady Luck when she appeared at the door and to stay the course when she had apparently abandoned them. They were motivated not by hunger for recognition and success but by their passion to be effective in the service of humanity and the correction of social inequities. They did not necessarily set out to establish careers, but were energetically opportunistic and ready to follow each bend in an unknown road. They had no role models nor even a conscious yearning for any. Neither they nor their husbands were exposed to feminist theory-a body of literature that did not appear until their careers were well launched-so these unusual women had to teach concepts of equality to understandably resistant mates while they were in the process of recognizing and articulating such concepts for the first time. To invent gender equality while living it, to resist the safe conventions of one's community, to "not hesitate to walk in" when an unknown door opened, to withstand the lonely humiliation of gender and racial bias all required a special gift. Nearly universally, these women tell us that the nature of the gift was the confidence to believe in themselves, and that the givers of the gift were their parents. Their parents believed them to be special, treated them no differently than they did their male children, set high standards of excellence, and, perhaps most importantly, did not impose a ceiling on expectations. In these stories we come to understand that the parents'

8 Foreword ix confidence was well placed. We recognize that if these women could conduct such interesting and worthy lives in their era-an era they did not recognize as such at the time-we honor them best by doing so in our own.

9 Acknowledgments Heartfelt thanks to the many persons who cheerfully helped locate and recruit chapter authors and to the many others who provided material for chapter introductions, the majority of them men. This is logical in that most persons in the career fields represented are men. It is a favorable sign for the future of women in these fields that so many men went to considerable effort to help bring this book to completion. Because most wanted it so, these persons remain anonymous, with a few exceptions. In particular I am grateful to those exceptions: the Right Reverend William E. Swing, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California, who provided most of the introduction to Woods' chapter; Robert N. Butler, M.D., first director of the National Institute on Aging, who wrote the conclusion of the introduction to Donahue's chapter; and M. Powell Lawton, Ph.D., who wrote the introduction to my chapter. I am grateful, too, to the young women in the Introduction of the volume who allowed publication of their very personal dilemmas and hope that somewhere in the book each will find information helpful to her situation. Most admirable of all are the women who laid out their lives for anyone to read, in hopes that their experiences will be enlightening to young women and to researchers attempting to rectify the inequity in information about men and women. xi

10 xii Acknowledgments Special recognition is due the three persons who read sixteen chapters in preparation for writing their own contributions: Robin B. Kennedy, J.D., whose Foreword was written from the viewpoint of a young career woman; Albert I. Rabin, Ph.D., whose Prologue reflects the vantage point of a man in later maturity, who has an eminent international career in the field of personality research and theory; and Jacquelyn Boone James, Ph.D., a young investigator who, in Chapter 18, reviews the sixteen chapters in terms of their potential impact upon future research.

11 Contents Foreword: Viewpoint of a Young Woman Lawyer... vii Robin B. Kennedy, Attorney Prologue: View of a Man Who Has Spent a Lifetime on Personality Research and Theory... 1 Albert I. Rabin, Personality Psychologist Chapter 1 Introduction Frances Merchant Carp, Psychologist Chapter 2 A Survivor's Career Wilma Thompson Donahue, Social Gerontologist Chapter 3 The Career of an Ahican-American Woman Artist Lois Mailou Jones, Artist Chapter 4 The Political Life Margaret Collins Schweinhaut, State Senator xiii

12 xiv Contents Chapter 5 Washington, D.C.-To the Wild West and Back Again Marie McGuire Thompson, Housing Commissioner Chapter 6 My Life as a Professional, a Wife, and a Mother Josephine Rohrs Hilgard, Psychiatrist Chapter 7 The Other Journey Shirley F. Woods, Archdeacon Chapter 8 Disorder or Congruence? Frances Merchant Carp, Psychologist Chapter 9 A Woman in Academe: Adventure, Fulfillment, Disillusion Ruth B. Weg, Biologist Chapter 10 A Professor's Story Vivian Wood, Social Worker Chapter 11 Not a Career: A Life Lisa Redfield Peattie, Anthropologist/Community Planner Chapter 12 Occupation: Sociologist Helena Znaniecka Lopata, Sociologist

13 Contents XV Chapter 13 The Once-Reluctant School Teacher Catherine Scofield Rude, Elementary School Teacher Chapter 14 A Woman Physician Looks Back Nancy McCall Clish, Physician Chapter 15 Serendipity and Adaptiveness: The Lucky Planner? I. M. Hulicka, Psychology Professor Chapter 16 A Career in Nursing Beverley L. Thomas, Registered Nurse Chapter 17 This Sho' Nuff Ain't Been No "Zombie Jamboree" Jacquelyne Johnson Jackson, Medical Sociologist Chapter 18 Implications for Future Research Jacquelyn Boone James, Research Psychologist Chapter 19 Summary Frances Merchant Carp, Psychologist Index

14 Lives of Career Women Approaches to Work, Marriage, Children