Women's Lib

I posted on Facebook that the new movement by strong women who refuse to tolerate sexual harassment any more is akin to the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1960's.  That movement changed the world and this new one will do the same.

I'd love to sit down and have a serious talk with my grandchildren about life pre-1960 and how our attitudes were affected by the social mores of the time.  We women were brainwashed to believe that men were higher up on the totem pole than we were because of divine right.  I think it might have taken longer than the 1960's for us to be enlightened if it wasn't for WW11 when it became necessary for many women to give up housework for factory jobs.  Once they got a whiff of how accomplished they really were, it wasn't so easy to crawl back under their man's thumb.  That was the opening for a group of brave and dedicated women to create the Women's Liberation Movement which, in turn, changed the world.

In the 1940's, when I was in grade school, most little girls aspired to become nurses (not doctors), secretaries (not business owners) or teachers.  Honestly, those were pinnacles as far as we were concerned.  And they weren't lifelong careers, either.  They were stopgaps until we married and had a husband to support us.  This is how societal brainwashing works.  I think I remember even learning this in grade school...teachers didn't tell us that we could reach any height we chose.

When I married at 17, my husband stated that no wife of his would ever work.  I was ecstatic that I'd married such a conscientious man!  I wasn't so ecstatic a few years later when I realized I wanted more out of life so I got a little part-time job just to get myself out of the house.  My husband wasn't happy.

I remember when the Women's Lib became news and I remember thinking they were a bunch of idiots.  After all, women could never be the equal of men because we weren't as strong...but we were just as smart!  Women's Lib struggled against stubborn and ignorant men and women in order to re-educate us all.  I don't remember when the light dawned on me but, once realized, we women could never go back to being second class citizens.  Women prospered from then on with many thanks to the strong women who dragged us out of the dark ages.

Of course, it's been an on-going struggled to preserve our equality but that fault lies firmly on the heads of men who prefer to use their power to subdue us.  Thankfully, many (I honestly don't think most) men had a conscience and chose to treat the women in their lives as equals.  The change had begun but had and has a long way to go.

Recently, another wave of strong women stepped forth and exposed the sexual harassment they'd suffered and also the men responsible.  We've always known this happens but it's never been aired in the immense scale it is today.  Heads began to role and, as women saw they were becoming successful in at least slowing down the sexual harassment, more women spoke up and young women paid attention.

Sexual or physical harassment by men towards women is based on power.  The physical power and the financial power of some men create bullies.  They use their power to harass because no-one, so far, has been able to stop them...hopefully that has changed even a little bit and will cease to be a social norm.  The old adage, "boys will be boys" won't be accepted any more.

My daughters were born at a time when they benefited greatly from the Women's Liberation Movement.  Their sons and daughters were brought up in homes where sexual equality was the norm and I have never heard even a whisper that one of my boys harassed a girl.  Education worked.

Education and bottom lines are the answer to making our society a beautiful and safe place for all of our children.  I can look back and see how social norms can suppress us and I can also see how education can change our social norms for the better.  

Is there still sexual and physical harassment by ignorant males against weaker women?  You bet there is!  But "times, they are a'changing" and the light is not as far away as it once was.