Here we are again. Ready to celebrate another Single Working Women’s Week.** Do you feel like we’ve made any progress towards liberating ourselves to celebrate the challenges and joys of being a single woman in today’s world?
Sometimes doesn’t feel much like it, right?
Just saw a tweet from @SinglePhobia passing on the frustration of seeing no one on the @MorningJoe television show even try to stand up to a conservative author whose new book claims “feminism has failed us.”
I’d say feminism has made some significant changes. Certainly we’ve made great strides in the workplace in terms of career opportunities – with miles yet to go over terrain that can still feel particularly grueling. See research by Psychology Today’s Single Living editor.
The first time I watched an episode of Mad Men, the television series about the advertising business in the 60s, I almost got sick. Simply couldn’t watch it because I’d lived through that time, and the men’s snide, condescending attitudes brought back miserable memories.
Recently, after hearing over and over again how many awards the show had won, I decided to control my revulsion and see if I could figure out what was so good about it. Suffice it to say, the acting was pretty darn good, but the plot line – which too frequently involves the tall and handsome, privileged-but-somehow-vulnerable male star sleeping with practically every female who comes into his field of vision – wore thin after a few seasons.
The net effect of watching was to remind me just how subjugated women tended to be back then. The most amazing character in the series was the single woman who rose from copywriter to creative team coordinator by standing up for herself – a courageous move that in the real world would have been just as likely to get her fired. She also completely hid the pregnancy brought on when she fell for one of the ad execs saying he couldn’t stop thinking about her – and let him impregnate her on the couch in his office. Once he dumped her because she was too uppity about being promoted, she never let him know about the pregnancy. Just wore disguising outfits and put up with the snide comments about her getting fat – and then gave the child up for adoption, probably because pregnancy termination was illegal back then.
Read the Huffington Post article about feminism that started the Tweet storm. And you may want to know I finally saw the last few episodes of Mad Men and found them surprisingly satisfying.
Happy Single Working Women’s Week**!
**Single Working Women’s Week in 2018 goes from July 29 to August 4. And of course Single Working Women’s Day is Saturday, August 4 every year. As seen in Chase’s Calendar of Events 2018.