My parents receive, pound for pound, about thirty times the urban myths through the e-mail that I do. And, after a number of corrections I’ve sent them, they now tend to forward things to me for vetting before they pass them on to their friends.
So when I got from them another “Hey, look at the funny attitudes reflected in this old document” post, I was ready to gently do a few minutes research and show them, gently, the error of their ways. This particular one was supposed to be instructions for male supervisors of women just entering the workforce, during the War in 1943.
Gulp. It’s evidently true.
Here’s the Snopes.com entry for this little gem — and it’s a hoot to read.
3. While there are exceptions, of course, to this rule, general experience indicates that “husky” girls – those who are just a little on the heavy side – are likely to be more even-tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.
4. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination – one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilities of lawsuit but also reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job. Transit companies that follow this practice report a surprising number of women turned down for nervous disorders.
Yeah. I can just see going to HR with concerns over my female staffers about their “nervous disorders.” Heh.
So go ahead and forward on, Mom. It has the Dave Seal of Historical Approval.
Yikes! You know the question/answer session in the Miss America Pageants – recently we caught clips from the pageants in the 1950’s on TV. The things that the contestants said were appaling to me. All women should be at home…A woman could never be president…It’s amazing how that thought process has changed in just 50 years.
Yes, it really is. We still have a ways to go … but “you’ve come a long way, baby.”
Only thing that worries me is that, while I’m a believer in the difficulty of getting the djinni back into the bottle, it also worries me that changes in one direction that quick can also see changes in the opposite direction just as quickly.
Depends on what sort of mood I’m in, I guess.