…..Maybe it’s something about the New York Times as the voice of authority that pushes women’s buttons……
40 years ago, I showed up to register on my first day at Yale—to find the campus swarming with reporters. Immediately, I was approached by a reporter from the New York Times — and I won’t ever forget his question: Do women deserve to be at Yale?
Click.
During the women’s movement, click was the word coined to describe that “aha” moment of recognition. Though it would take months before I learned the word feminist to identify myself, that question was the instant it dawned on me where I stood as a woman…….
I’m reading a book called When Everything Changed; The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, written ( ironically) by New York Times Op-Ed columnist Gail Collins.
For those who remember — it’s amazing how we forget …… that only a few decades ago:
A woman was ejected from a courtroom because she showed up in slacks– to pay a traffic ticket.
Married women could not apply for a credit card without their husband’s permission.
Newspaper ads were divided into Help Wanted: Male, or Help Wanted: Female.
United Airlines ran regular “Executive Flights” from New York to Chicago — for men only.
Just a few decades ago. How quickly we forget…..
These are excerpts from my piece just published on the Huffington Post— CLICK here to read the entire post…...
In 1982 I got a call in El Salvador from a CBS New VP who asked: Do you think a women would be safe, could survive an assignment in El Salvador? I think I just said of course but did add that the Newsweek, New York Times and Chicago Tribune reporters staying the hotel at the time were females. What really struck me was in what way, I never could come up with one, was I better equipped to be there than a woman?
I wouldn’t want to be a war correspondent personally…..but truly Bob, there is almost nothing a man is better equipped to do–at least you’re one of the few men who admits it. Ha ha