Career and Family Advice for Educated Women
“The job of making a home and operating it properly is the most responsible post a woman can accept. The husband is absent from the home much of the time; hence, the care of the home and the care and training of the children are largely a matter for the wife and mother. No matter how responsible a place the woman held before her marriage, her position as homemaker and mother is infinitely more important.”
“It has been said that the successful homemaker needs all of the highest qualities of heart and mind. To list all the qualities required of an ideal homemaking wife and mother would be like cataloguing the virtues of a saint. No one can hope to reach such perfection but they can, nevertheless, make every effort to approach it.”
“The homemaker needs steady nerves, an even temperament, a sense of humor, and a cheerful disposition. She must have the ability to adjust her personality to others, and must have a spirit of fairness and a willingness to compromise. It is doubtful whether or not a girl should marry if housekeeping and homemaking are distasteful to her.”
From The Girls Place in Life, by J. Frank Faust, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools, Chambersburg, PA. 1942.. Published by McDonnell & Company Champaign, IL
Wilson Alumnae Quarterly Insert, February 1954
Job Re-entry for the Mature Woman: A present pattern for dusting off the diploma, by Mary Jo Clark, Dean of Freshmen and Director of Placement. AQ 1962
“The traditional labels “career woman” and “homemaker” are obsolete. More and more women find it not only possible but desirable to combine these roles. The dominant pattern for graduates in the 1960s will probably be one of employment for from one to four years immediately following college, ten to fifteen years devoted to family and children, then some combination of homemaking and career for at least another 20 years.”
“A recent Commencement speaker – wife, mother and career woman – outlined three H’s vital to the successful combination of homemaking and career: an understanding Husband, good Health, and competent Household Help.”
“Last fall members of the class of 1965 participated in a national survey of entering college freshmen. Though they were just beginning college, almost half indicated intention to continue for a master’s degree and more than ten percent reported plans for a doctorate. All thought in terms of some probable future occupation; none of them chose the category “housewife” only.”
Dean Disert Advises a Student, AQ 1954
Editorial Cartoon, AQ 1971
At the meeting of the “Second Century Program” in 1971, Wilson College trustee and chair of the Development and Public Relations Committee, Emmett Eagan told the audience that it was important for Wilson to remain a high caliber girl’s school so that Wilson’s tradition of “turning out girls who have the stuff that mothers of great men are made of will remain unbroken.”
A barrage of editorials and letters to the Billboard ensued, like this comment from Prof. Eve MacDonald, “To let linger the impression that Wilson is a schooling and gentling stable for fine breeding stock (in mini-skirts) is to do a disservice to Wilson students, faculty, trustees and friends,” and this from Lynne DiStasio, “we wish to become involved in our society as contributors, innovators and leaders. Did Mr. Eagan ever wonder why there are courses in collective bargaining or skills and technology of biological investigation and not “techniques of stain removing” and “macaroni I and II”? The idea that Wilson women will be mothers of great men in absurd; we will be our own great women first.”
Alumnae Quarterly, 1971
The Debate on Women’s Role. AQ 1971
“The last five years have marked a new interest in feminism and a continuing debate on women’s role, who she is, and what she wants. Today we are bombarded on all sides by the mass media on the subject of ‘Women’s Liberation’ and we are being subjected to consciousness-raising in a variety of ways.”
Career Opportunities for Women by Beverly Kane Schaffer ’61. AQ 1972
“In the past, most women worked when they were young and then permanently dropped out of the labor force for marriage and motherhood, and then return when their children are in school or are on their own.”
“Not only are more women working but the trend is for them to work full time rather than part time. Most women work because they or their families need the money they earn to raise their standard of living or to help meet the rising cost of living. Relatively few women have the option of working solely for personal fulfillment.”
“Women entering college must progress from the notion that they are educating themselves solely for the role of wife and mother (a role they anticipate playing immediately upon graduation) to the knowledge that even though most of them will marry, they will also want to work for a large portion of their life span and therefore they must seek an education that will enable them to pursue interesting careers.”