Before When Everything Changed, In 1900 in Western countries there were very few occupations open to women, apart from agriculture. Many poorer women had to do factory work (between pregnancies), or worse still, take poorly paid jobs in service industries (catering, cleaning and so on). In 1900 in many countries a large number of women were employed in domestic service. The main better ('middle class') jobs available were school teaching and nursing, followed increasingly by secretarial jobs of various kinds and also work as telephonists. (Telephone exchanges were manual in 1900). There were also a handful of women university teachers in 1900, but really only a handful, as very few women went to college then.
In the case of school teaching, women were often only allowed to keep their jobs as long as they remained single, and any sort of extra-marital sex life for a woman would have been just too shocking for words! (If they married they had to resign.)
Areas of employment closed to women in 1900 included the legal profession and financial services. The number of female physicians in 1900 was extremely small.
Gail Collins writes in her book how women's role models have changed and women have more choices available to them. How Anita Hill stood up for her rights and refused to be sexually harassed at work. The political female figures of the 2009 Presidential campaign. I would have liked to have seen a little more balance regarding stay at home moms. I felt at times that Collins was too tough on stay at home moms. A woman should not attack other women just because they want to live a traditional lifestyle. I think at times she could have remained more neutral on her political feelings. This was a long and tedious read. Though I feel I am opened minded, I did feel her Left Wing slant was way too overbearing and often inaccurate. Gail Collins also writes openly about making money and becoming successful is very important. Gail Collins may need to be reminded that "Money is the root of all evil."
