Blog 1: Interview Project; Interview an older woman

My choice for the first blog project was to interview an older woman. I decided on this because the other option left me with very limited resources because I don’t really know any active feminist. When deciding on who to interview I had several women to consider and the one I chose was my mother and one of the main reasons I chose her was because I thought this would be a good way for me to learn more about her and how she became who she is today. My mom is 71 years old, she was born in 1940 and her childhood was full of a mixture of happy and sad events. My mom was raised very poor, so she didn’t have all the “normal” things that kids had growing up. Her and her mother moved a lot and struggled to have food to eat. They didn’t have a car, or phone and they either walked or rode a bus to where they needed to go.  As she grew up and was in high school, she got a job in a department store to help to pay for things. She wasn’t in too many activities but the ones she did participate in were the traditional female activities, baton, cheerleading, acting, band. They didn’t have girls sports in her high school, which reminded me of one of our readings, A Day Without Feminism and even though that story was based on the life in the 70’s there were multiple similarities to my mother’s time. I quote, “The only prestigious physical activity for girls is cheerleading, or becoming a drum majorette” (Baumgardner & Richards, p.31).

 My mother did not attend college, it was not an option, they were too poor and it was not the “norm” at that time to go to college after high school, only the privileged went to college. And that statement from my mother is very consistent to a lot of the readings so far. My mom graduated high school at 17 years old, by 18 she was married and she had four kids in a very short period of time, she says this is what was considered the way of life for women then. This statement takes me to the reading Excerpts from The Feminine Mystique(1963), “By the end of the nineteen-fifties, the average marriage age of women in America dropped to 20, and was still dropping, into the teens. Fourteen million girls were engaged by 17” (Friedan, p.1). She said that for 10 years she did not work, she just raised her kids and kept the home, all of my brothers and sisters are very close in age and the reason my mom says is because they were Catholic and didn’t believe in birth control and that is what she was meant to do was to have babies. As the kids grew, she finally got her first real job as a personnel assistant; without any kind of degree, just her high school certificate, which reminded me of the reading The Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls Conference, 1848; where it is stated the “he has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education, all colleges being closed against her” (Staton, p 2). She progressed from one level to another, becoming the director of human resources and the benefits manager, all without any education beyond a high school diploma and her employer did not required her to gain any even though she kept getting promotions. She would get her certifications on her own accord to stay current with the times. She was in that profession for 28 years, then moved on to the insurance field and is currently still in that profession.

My mother is a woman that was raised in an era where women weren’t considered to be deserving of education, sports, or any other things that were deemed to be a “mans” thing. She followed the traditional rules of society and what women were meant to do and be according to society. When I asked her if there was anything she wished or would have done different she replied, no that is what I knew and loved.

Works Citied

Baumgardne,r Jennifer and Richards, Amy. A Day Without Feminism. 2000

Friedan, Betty. Excerpts from The Feminine Mystique. 1963

            Staton Cady, Elizabeth. Modern History Sourcebook: The Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca
                 Falls Conference. 1848

                Rochelle Foghino. 269-767-7700