Wednesday, July 11, 2007

From Little Woman to Girl in 40 Years

Don't Call Me "Girl"!

I am so sick of being called "girl" and hearing other grown women called "girl" that I'd almost prefer the old, outworn phrase "little woman". Just when you think a term has gone out of style, it comes back in its original form. Use your cell-phone-thing to count the times in one day that you hear grown women referred to as "girls". You'll find the word has become a staple of television and movies. Note too how the term reduces the value of the woman.

Years ago, a married woman was referred to as "the little woman", the "little lady", the "lady of the house", and a few other things I won't mention in polite company. All of these terms, of course, diminish the role that the "little woman" plays in the home — as cook, launderer, cleaning lady, child-bearer, teacher, nurse, confidante, counselor, purveyor of sexual favors, accountant, and holder of the TV remote.

Wouldn't you think that things would change, now that women are flying to outer space in rockets, running banks and colleges, governing cities and states, catching felons, commanding jet airliners, and other such things once defined as "men's work"? But things have not changed. Even today, women earn less than men; are restricted from certain jobs (in certain companies); have never led the country as President or Vice President; and are under-represented in the courts, legislatures, councils, and government management.

What bothers me most is that young women, especially those under 30, have few clues about how their mothers and grandmothers were treated — back in the olden days of the early 20th century. Less than 50 years ago, women were moved out of teaching jobs when they became pregnant (if they were even allowed to teach as a married woman). "Pregnant" was a word banned from movies, radio, and the then-budding-television. Women could not buy big ticket items (house, car, boat, business) without a husband, brother, or father to co-sign. Women couldn't even buy insurance for themselves. Their work was stuck at the bottom of the economic pyramid: clerk, typist, teacher, nurse, teller, or restaurant server (once called "waitress"). An "acceptable business" for a woman (usually a widow) included taking in laundry, or operating a beauty shop, dress shop, or millinery.

Next time someone refers to you, or some other female over 14 years, as "girl", give them a chilling stare and then a lecture on manners. Save the "girl" label for underage females. the rest of us are "women". Or don't you remember Helen Reddy's famous song, "I Am Woman!" or Sojourner Truth's famous poem, "Ain't I a Woman?"

Passage of the Equal Rights Amendment won't fix all these ailments, but it will go a long way to giving pause for reflection about the status and value of women in the good old U.S.A.

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