Hi: Here's some interesting reading about gender inequality.
My Mom sent this info. Enjoy.
Signed, Shaunasi

1943 Guide to Hiring Women

The following is an excerpt from the July 1943 issue of Transportation Magazine. This was written for male supervisors of women in the work force during World War II.

"Eleven Tips on Getting More Efficiency Out of Women Employees: There's no longer any question whether transit companies should hire women for jobs formerly held by men. The draft and manpower shortage has settled that point. The important things now are to select the most efficient women available and how to use them to the best advantage.

Here are eleven helpful tips on the subject from Western Properties:

1. Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they're less likely to be flirtatious, they need the work or they wouldn't be doing it, they still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.

2. When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves and are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy. It's always well to impress upon older women the importance of friendliness and courtesy.

3. General experience indicates that "husky" girls - those who are just a little on the heavy side - are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.

4. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination - one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilities of lawsuit, but reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job.

5. Stress at the outset the importance of time the fact that a minute or two lost here and there makes serious inroads on schedules. Until this point is gotten across, service is likely to be slowed up.

6. Give the female employee a definite day-long schedule of duties so that they'll keep busy without bothering the management for instructions every few minutes. Numerous properties say that women make excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that they lack initiative in finding work themselves.

7. Whenever possible, let the inside employee change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be less nervous and happier with change.

8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.

9. Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making criticisms. Women are often sensitive; they can't shrug off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman - it breaks her spirit and cuts off her efficiency.

10. Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women. Even though a girl's husband or father may swear vociferously, she'll grow to dislike a place of business where she hears too much of this.

11. Get enough size variety in operator's uniforms so that each girl can have a proper fit. This point can't be stressed too much in keeping women happy."

Here's the link to the gender essays: http://www.tiac.net/users/cri/gender.html. (This is where I found the 1943 guide to hiring women that I just sent you.)

My mom's words:
I feel the same about everything you said -- re
> appreciating and also re wanting a better world. It is dynamic, which is
why
> ongoing appreciation and also citizen vigilance is needed to keep it
developing
> in a positive way. At least, the framers of our Constitution had great
wisdom in the way they set up the structure. This IS the best country in
the world in
> terms of evolved thought, and a lifestyle based on that. And yet there is
so
> much to fix, as well, within what is wonderful and good.
>
> A bit of personal history FYI on why the status of
> women is why it is and was. You know my theory that social forms as well
as
> inventions usually are created around a situation as a solution to a
problem,
> and often by well-meaning minds, even though so many others try to take
> advantage. My Dad raised me to be a child/wife, based on his Old-World
> upbringing where the husband supports the family and the wife bears the
children
> and brings them up. This was a workable model in the new Industrial
> Age, after the Agricultural Age where everyone had been home working
> together to raise crops. (Even during the Agricultural Age, usually the
men
> worked the fields and the women stayed home to care for the children and
home as
> well as cook.) When my parents were growing up -- in the Industrial Age
> -- aspiring opera singers gave up their careers once they married -- many
> of them -- because the wives were the only ones available to care for the
> children. There were no other support systems (other than other women in
the
> family).
> >
> Then came WWII where the men went off to war and
> the women were tapped to work in the factories. Somehow a new model was
born.
> After the war, many women went home, but many did not.
>
> I know you know all this already, but I guess I
> relate to it more because I experienced that kind of thinking more
directly than
> you did, because you grew up in a later age when more support systems had
> become available to families and matured at a time when men have been
> allowed back into the house to have a real role in nurturing the children
and
> helping run the household.