Contributing writer
Everyone should read the book I just read. It is about what has happened to women since 1960. Everything has changed.
The change in dress impressed me. Back then, women were still wearing dresses for the most part. It was told about one judge who even sent a woman away for wearing pants. Look at Hilary Clinton; has she ever worn a dress? Surely when her daughter gets married, she will wear a nice dress.
A friend of mine, Elsie, told me no one would ever see her wearing slacks and I believed her. She usually made up her mind and didn’t ever change it. One day I went to her house to pick her up and to my astonishment there she stood in a pink pantsuit. What a shock. I didn’t question her. Someone must have put pressure on her.
A young college friend, Margaret, was attending Emporia State University. Her sorority was having their annual prom and her mother, who was an excellent seamstress, had worked for days making her a beautiful dress for the prom. During the first dance, the chaperone approached her and told her to go back to the sorority house and change her clothes. Her skirt was too short. That was in the 1930s.
Women used to have to have their husband’s permission to transact any business arrangement. If she didn’t have a husband, I guess her father would have to take charge.
Women didn’t go anywhere without an escort, now look at all the single women at work. Not typing or taking dictation, but doing real important stuff.
There have been changes in about every phase of life. Very interesting.