Women At Work: Change, Choice, Challenge (1977)

the girls who are making career choice decisions should be made aware that they do in fact have choices that they may make not that someone else has already made for them women in the workforce no longer are some kind of odity or some kind of Rarity they will continue to exist in greater numbers I do believe in the right to fulfill your goal and whatever career you choose and it's just proving yourself and not buckling under the pressure actually since I've always been a woman I didn't realize it was so unique not to be I never realized that what I was doing was unusual [Applause] they can dig ditches and they can go to medical school and they can become lawyers if you suddenly took all the women out of the labor market the standard of living of many families would drop A Woman's Place Is A Woman's Place she's got her job to do the man has his job to do and it's true they cannot do the type of physical work that's required of them yet they want to compete for those jobs and there's no reason why if they can equal of strength they cannot do the same activities exactly as men exactly if they can duplicate the activity why not in our line of business they couldn't carry scaffolding set up heavy scaffolding that's beyond their means what changed our lives so radically of course was the Industrial Revolution when work moved out of the home as we become much more technical worked as mat pen on [Music] BR you can't say it's men's work or women's work because we all have certain capabilities many men cannot go out and lift heavy items or do a heavy manual labor any more than many women me joh women have always been part of the workforce whether that's been paid work or whether it's been forging the New Frontier and nobody ever thought it was so weird for the woman to help build the house and to make the clothes and to do all that as machine power replaces muscle power as child care and Home Care no longer occupy a major portion of a woman's life more and more women are planning careers nine out of 10 women today will work at some time in their lives whether it's called a job a career or a profession new Lifestyles together with changing attit attitudes and laws now make it possible for women to choose work they like from a wider range of occupations more and more women are making sure they get the educational training that can open doors for them women who are taking advantage of these new opportunities of women who feel that they have the capabilities and work as well as men have uh I didn't come for the job right off the street somebody told me about the pay I thought they were joking hard hat and Boots forget it you know but when I figured out the money I said well I should at least give it a try the first day I came in here they showed me around the plant and they said well you have to climb up here so I just did I just figured well that's part of the job there's always a pipe to hang on to if you feel insecure you don't think about the height or the vapors or what's in there you just think oh that's an oil refinery they make gasoline the heights really don't bother me too much I found out it took me a long time to even begin to understand them I thought a pump was a pump when I would say the pump is doing this when men would say you know which part of the pump and I'd say I don't know which part of the pump the pump now it isn't so much a question of whether a woman's needed to fill this job or not it's a question of whether the woman needs the job I need the job as bad as a man does cuz I don't I can't make this kind of money and support three kids unless I have a job like this work 80 hours in seven days so it's time to cash the paycheck and go to the store and spend it I feel really good at work I don't look at it as man or woman and you just hope that more like you that don't like you no I'm not going to let the kids paint their own room they want to they all want to hang out can we have a paintbrush no they cannot have a paintbrush I already told them that I have a good deal of Independence working now I never thought of coming to an oil refinery or doing men's work or anything in that order I just thought of the money confirming Mrs is Alvarez all right thank you very much funny thing about it I had no nurses in the family Dr cartright you're kned downstairs again I enjoyed working with people even as a teenager I felt that maybe nursing was the type of thing that I should go into I've never been dissatisfied with my decision hi Bob how are you oh okay I guess I'm Catherine Alvarez how long have you been sick oh about 4 days about 4 days what's been your problem um really bad sour you know looking at medicine nauseous uh you're talking about at least 10 to 12 years you take any medicine today uh a little you're also talking about a great deal of self- sacrifice a great deal of putting off what you really want to do nursing you're talking about 3 to four years nothing since then no with nursing I felt that I could still function as an individual and still be doing the type of nursing that I wanted to do and for me that's important have you had anything to eat today no how about last night um just a little in time I'd like to become a nurse practitioner I think that nurses in an expanded role as practitioners where we can do routine physical exams this is a role that Nur can take on and I would like to take that on okay for as long as I can remember the first thing I ever wanted to do was was be around horses I was light good on race horse and I was going to try to be a jockey the tradition has always been men in this business up until maybe 15 20 years ago they didn't they wouldn't let a woman on the backside around the barns that was something they did not do a lot of the fright comes from the parents and teachers your parents always taught you you can't go play baseball that's not what a little girl does it's just because of tradition tradition I think has kept women out of a lot of [Music] jobs I'm under constant stress we travel at a pretty good speed out there and there's a lot of stress a lot of pressure you know I feel it but I have no trouble handling it women has been generalized by a few who can't handle themselves and break Under Pressure you really got to be completely dedicated to this business otherwise might as well not even try straight up when I was the first and I'm black they were just as happy to see me as I was to get here being a double minority I found it necessary ride a little bit while the opportunity was there because 2 years from now it may not be there well it's difficult and familiarize yourself with air brakes and pressure and equalizers and reservoirs I enjoy driving and I like Machinery but engines don't frighten me or anything know I have to be alert I'm carrying lives the people that travel the commuters it's very important to them because most of them work in the [Applause] city right now I'm a traine for the engineer position I'm sitting and I'm observing calling signals I agree I am working a position that was occupied by men and the idea that there are some people behind me saying oh she'll never make it that gives you a lot of drive right there right now on this Pro I'd like to get to be top engineer and take that long road hul there a class I see people coming up in medicine certainly there are more women with each entering medical class the most important thing when you're deciding on what you want to do is to sit down and say what makes me happy what do I like to do and then try to see how a career can go about implementing that obstruction at the level of the of the aqueduct it never actually occurred to me not to have a career I've always enjoyed school work any career is demanding of time you obviously have to give up something I think this is where many women become frustrated when they get into careers is that they suddenly realize frequently they are going to have to delay marriage and children because you don't have the time to develop in both ways you have to realize that it's going to take longer for you to acquire many of the things that people that aren't involved in careers can have right away being a woman is something that um you can't hide by putting a person in a certain job or in certain uniforms you walk in with an idea of I am a doctor I'm going to do my best to help this particular individual I think it's part of the concept of I'm a person trying to do a job rather than I'm a woman trying to do a job medicine in general and surgery in particular it's not just a career it's a way of life and if you're willing to do it and if you want to do it you'll be happy doing nothing else one of the most important things in surgery is you have to be able to say I don't know and this is very hard for many people you either sort of have it or you don't you have to have a desire to make things better primarily what surgery is all about of course is making life better that's why I got into the business in the first place you have to be able to watch a lot of very good people die and to stand by and realize that you can't help them this also is a very difficult thing to do the image of the doctor is changing my career in medicine is going to be totally different than someone starting 30 years ago we're going to get through only if we do develop the ability to look at ourselves very critically everyone please rise hear ye hear ye hear you Lake Superior Court room 3 is now in session The Honorable philis senagal presiding pursuant to adjourn you may be seated good morning your honor good morning your [Applause] H someone asked me whether or not I felt obliged to be a better judge than a man would be and I had to be honest about it and I said no would you SAR the witnesses please Witnesses please I said you forget about my being a woman cuz I'm not thinking about it I established that so that we don't have role play thank you when I went into law school I felt very good about my own femininity it's hard to tell the mother's three children that she's not a woman now I'm 46 and people say well you're supposed to be upset and uptight every day and I just feel great I don't have this feeling that youth is leaving me around the corner and somehow I've got to Trop faster to keep up with it no that has not been established conclusively that he's not the father of the child I don't think there's any stage in our present day life where where a woman can say I know I'm taken care of well Council I think the court realizes that these meetings sometimes are the beginning of a Reconciliation The Surge and family income we've had in the last 10 years hasn't been due just to salary increases but the fact that there's two people bringing home the bacon Jud I work because I I need the money women are living longer and in this day and age every woman has a responsibility to take care of herself notice of the hearing will I get a copy of your order yes most women get into politics out of wanting good government they sometimes don't go as far as men have gone supposedly because they don't have the same quest for power and money W him a note and just tell him apparently there now I think that women are certainly going to have that Quest too but I would like to think that what they will bring to the public sphere is this sense of helping things to grow you know I hope he does that with all of his candidates information on registration here if you know any people who aren't registered hi from Old Park I have been a full-time homaker for 15 years so I'm prepared for the fact of doing twice as many things we need sometimes to try two or three things in our life before we ever hit upon the thing that we really want to do women no longer have to make the choice between family and career it is possible to combine them oh I'm delighted are you registered no the thing I really like about campaigning and about politics is the people the reward of course is being able to use what you perceive to be your talents to help people's lives be better I see government as the means to do that for me that is the most exciting thing in the world that I could be doing we can't be shutting Doors for Women and saying no that's not ladylike or that's not feminine the ultimate put down you don't want to be one of the boys the point is you do want to be one of the boys because one of the things that you hope to do in this process is to help the boys be buried fire from police we have a report of an auto accident with multiple injuries opportunities are opening up for women and women are being able to find that they have almost every career open to them if they really feel they're good and they try for it but there's more help one that for women I think we're going to see the day where men are going to be secretaries I think they're going to be forced to just to get a job makes an interesting comment because originally all secretaries were men and when men got tired of being secretaries then women took it over and when they got tired of being telephone operators women got it jobs in the factories that men didn't want women got the message is you can do anything you want to do there are certain choices you have to make a man makes the same [Applause] Choice hello very simply put it's doing something every day that you want to do in a very long training program like medicine certainly financially one is going to be on the Poor Side of things for for many many years and that's just something that one mustn't become bitter about or disillusioned about women themselves individual women have to decide themselves whether or not they want to take that step to maturity when I got this job as judge many men were upset they felt if she could have it I should have had it we will continue to fight it the struggle for women is still in its infancy we hope employers who profit from sex discrimination it's women's fault we're more than half the population if you take women working in offices or something like that and if they do the job I think they should get equal pay like what they're talking for when discrimination comes most of the times you're not prepared to deal with it emotionally if from the beginning you have not been taught to be yourself and speak out for what you think is right and what you think is wrong when you decide I want to have that job then you have to make up your mind that you're going to fight for it no matter how many disappointments you're going to get if that is what you really want to do you're not going to make a change unless you're forcing a change maybe women are fortunate they have the option at this point in time of making that choice of what kind of a job they want to have you know even if I didn't work here I would go back to working someplace else it gives me a sense that I know something in life with Liberation comes responsibility and women are going to be more responsible for their lives I think that women are seeking a chance to fulfill their own Ambitions and goals that expression does not come easily to them because of barriers that are put in the way it's the freedom of choice women are going to have to struggle for it but there are many Humane good people who are going to assist them in doing it still they're going to have to fight we always have to to fight for things that we really want nothing comes easy they want other things besides the money the money may not be the biggest thing for some women some women may may want just to get out and do something and I think each person has to examine what's best for their life and what meets their needs and their family's needs they should make these choices because they feel good about them it's their life and they should feel good about what they're doing