We are all familiar with the common phrase .. women belong at home.. Right after the war soldiers returning home were confronted with wives that were not at home but working in areas dominated by men. Women did work in nearly every industry and worked well they did while helping us win the war.
The crisis of expectation came as soldiers came home. Women then were expected to return home and magazines, movies, newspapers, books written, talking heads all preaching the message..
women must go home ..women must now put their own needs aside.. and etc.
My own mother was given an allowance to be spent for the needs of the home. Any left over she could play bingo on Friday and maybe Saturday night. She asked first. My son-in-law's dad just died and his mom never had a driver's license.. She was not expected to drive. She was expected to be home taking care of all.
Has society changed all that much? Have women taken on the roles of "Rosie the Riveter" or are women still trying to find a place for themselves? I think they are still earning their way forward but we now have another issue re: women and how we treat and respect them. It is the alarming rise, known forever, of sexual abuse by powerful men.
The crisis of confidence displayed by the likes of Judge Roy Moore, Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein and many others point to powerful men. For the president and Judge Moore many have decided to just look away. For those women accusers, they talk but nobody listens to them. Have we really come very far in accepting women as equals and rather then suggest, even whisper, that women still belong in the homes?
The news, though, is encouraging. Thousands of women are looking at running for office in the nation. It might be a town trustee or a mayor of a small town but encouraged we all should be.There is a relationship, similar to symbiosis, that suggests parity. Women and men in the same work environment have fewer problems socially.
Societies have probably forever treated women as a commodity not to be revered or further admired and respected. I feel and am sure many others as well feel the same way. Men like Trump, Moore Weinstein, et. al need a special place reserved for disrespect and further considering women mere objects to be used and then, disgracefully, thrown in a heap.
I feel there is and must be another way. I urge women reading this to speak up. Get loud ... and write to your congressman. Washington, D.C. "swamp dwellers" appear by their silence to be above a morality code that goes back to Biblical times. Send a note to Chuck; to Bob and even to President Trump.
Robert Brooks