Last night I got to the Texas Exes ballroom later than expected, but luckily I was able to find a seat near the back of the room. I unfortunately didn't get to see much of Gail Collins, but I definitely heard everything she had to say, and I went the old-fashioned way as you can see and took notes by hand.
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'2013 Liz Carpenter Lecture featuring Gail Collins' brochure, with my notes to the side
One of the first things Collins said (the first direct quotation that I wrote down) that stuck with me was her one-sentence summary of the gender standard back then: "Men ran things, and women were put on a pedestal."
While it is certainly understandable that the sentiment was like this back in those times, hearing it spelled out so plainly was surprising. She went further on to explain just how little women could do: they didn't really play sports, they didn't work, they didn't travel usually unless it was with their husband (with the notable exception of airline stewardesses, which I will return to later). They couldn't even wear slacks in public without being reprimanded - and female university students could only leave the dormitories in pants if they were going bowling. Comparing what a college campus must have looked like then with what UT's campus looks like now is mind-boggling. The idea that being a flight stewardess was 'the most glamorous profession' at the time simply because it meant a woman could travel alone is also stunning.
Everything was legal in the 1960s; every form of gender discrimination (for jobs, getting credit, or for entering into universities) was entirely legal. In a short period of time from 1964 to 1972, according to Collins, is when everything changed with the advent of movements such as the Civil Rights Act.
Another phrase she used that really struck me was something to the effect of this (I may have missed exact phrasing here): "When you're the exception to the rule...the rule is still king."
In no means was she invalidating the achievements of the exceptional women of the time, but it made a clear point on me; even if you are personally breaking the mold, the mold is still faulty and still far too prevalent. One of the main reasons that the position of women began rising up, according to Collins, was because of the advent of birth control.
More notes of mine
The sexual revolution was underway, and to some extent it got rid of double-standards. Previously I hadn't considered that something like this would have acted with such a major scope, but then she reminded us that it was because it stopped women from having to make a nine-month commitment to pregnancy (and then the years afterwards of raising a child). In this day and age, when a good majority of my friends want to go into medicine or law, I can't imagine them settling down to marry and reproduce by twenty-five or so (most of them would be in their residency, I think, if they continued with this path). But as Collins ended, she emphasized the importance of timing, and as a girl myself I am very grateful to the women who weren't afraid to be laughed at, the women of all the decades prior to this one who made the difference.
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