[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] well what what do you think is the uh the main change in uh what what generation are you I'm I'm thirty years old
[speaker001:] I'm twenty nine
[speaker002:] you're twenty nine okay so we're we're we're both uh children of the very early sixties
[speaker001:] right and I have I mean I've seen some change like I know um when I was young most mothers pretty much were housewives and stayed at home with the kids and to me it seems like
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] it's almost the opposite now where the the woman is working and and they you know take the children to child care or maybe they work part-time or something
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] so that seems to be a pretty big change
[speaker002:] yeah the family structure in general is being really restructured from one income to two incomes which means from one parent to two part-time parents if you're lucky um
[speaker001:] um-hum yeah right
[speaker002:] I uh it's it's funny because both of us both of us then were really just adolescents when when I think most of the major changes for adult women were going on
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] in America I don't think changes are are still progressing but it seems to me that the uh really the seventies the early seventies was a period of the most change and if I had to be somewhat abstract about it it seems to be the major change has been that woman have acquired more choice
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum oh that's true that's true
[speaker002:] uh I mean that's sort of the overall the meta the meta change as it were uh where that woman really have more of a choice now about what they do
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] um of course they find that the choice creates its own hardships in a way because life is not quite as simple even if it is for your you know you can choose something you really want which is a wonderful thing but it does seem like an awful lot of my uh
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] my adult women friends are anguishing over over some of these choices um
[speaker001:] right well I know the choice to either work or to be a mother is probably pretty difficult because I think women just naturally tend to have those instincts that you you know you protected the children and you
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] you want to be with the children yet there's so many material things to be had out there that a lot of people think oh but if we both work we can get a really big house and we can get two really nice cars we can take a vacation we can do this and
[speaker002:] yes yes yes
[speaker001:] and it's kind of almost expected of you anyway people kind of look down on on a you know the role of a woman as a housewife it's kind of like oh well you know she didn't go to college and she's just a housewife and that's all she does right
[speaker002:] right she just settled for that yeah
[speaker001:] right even though there's probably women with MBA's maybe even PhD's that are staying at home with the children um
[speaker002:] well I only know I have my friends who have had children uh I only know one woman who's decided to go the quote unquote traditional route and I have a lot of respect for her because she made it as a real choice
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] she really knew that she didn't have to do that but she decided that was what she wanted to do in her life and she wanted that role she's a she's a marvelous parent and
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and I you know I say all power to her because she's an example to me of someone who really does have the choice I feel that a lot of uh women don't well I I said they have the choice but they don't necessarily feel that they do because they no longer feel like if they were to just be a parent
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] rather than uh you know the sort of super woman success in the business world as well they would somehow be perceived as a failure in their own eyes or in others and and then you see then it's not a choice anymore
[speaker001:] um-hum right um-hum
[speaker002:] um and and frankly it's the way that men are um men don't have this choice you know they don't feel this choice um uh
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] in most subcultures in America that that I've been exposed to if the man were to say uh no I've decided not to work I want to stay home and do the child rearing my wife has a good job and I want her to keep that
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and I'm going to I'm going to be the primary caretaker and you know and then then take care of the children because we don't want to put them in day care and this and that I think most Americans would feel funny about that and maybe sort of feel like he isn't that success that he could have been
[speaker001:] yeah right
[speaker002:] so it's um
[speaker001:] there's some TV show on now and I I I think I've seen it once I don't get to watch much TV but uh
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] there's a TV show where the man is the one raising the kids and the wife is and I maybe they based it on that Mister Mom movie but uh
[speaker002:] um-hum I didn't I didn't see that
[speaker001:] but uh there there is a TV show out there I guess they're trying to gain you know more public acceptance of things like that because I know there are cases where that happens and
[speaker002:] oh yeah I've I knew people who did it years ago but they they were very apologetic about it because you could tell they were used to people kind of going what are you doing that for you know
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah right it's probably getting more and more accepted today in fact it seems like it's kind of almost like anything goes now you you're not too surprised on much of anything when you know the husband's the one at home raising the children the mother works that's not real surprising and
[speaker002:] yeah yeah I've seen more and more companies that have um parental leave not just maternity leave they can grant paternity leave as well as maternity leave
[speaker001:] right yeah in fact I'm pretty sure TI has something like that because uh one of the area supervisors uh in my area as a matter of fact took off um for a couple of weeks when his wife had their baby now it might have been just to take care of her and the baby instead of having you know a a nurse or someone come in or whatever midwife or whatever you call it that they have for the first couple of weeks but
[speaker002:] um-hum yeah um-hum um-hum yeah
[speaker001:] but I don't know if he took that out of his vacation or if they really do have a paternity he put paternity leave up there but it might have just been him describing the fact that he was taking vacation days to go be a father for a little while I don't know
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] but I'm not real sure how that goes
[speaker002:] yeah the other big change I see in in in woman's lives is um  to remain biological they uh women are because they have choice are having children much later in life
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] uh I mean my friends who are having children are having them at age thirty
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and uh if I'd been a couple of generations ago they would have had kids running around by then
[speaker001:] right well people they in general are just getting married a lot later I'm still single so I'm sure I'll be one of those parents that's you know one of those women in her thirties when when I get around to to ever getting married and then having kids so
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] that's uh I think I think that's getting a little more common too
[speaker002:] yeah I actually think I I'm I'm somewhat encouraged by that trend because after all people live long er lives now so it's not like you can you know it's not like you're going to uh you know pass away before your child is an adult I mean barring unforseen you know unforeseen circumstances
[speaker001:] um-hum right
[speaker002:] and I think most people make better parents when they're a little bit more mature I really do
[speaker001:] yeah I agree I agree I think it also gives a woman a chance to if she does have a job a nd a career it gives the man and the wife both a chance to both be working and maybe save up some money and then it gives her a little more option if she wants to stay home with the children while they're young
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and be a mother for awhile and then once they've gotten to school age maybe she could go back to work so she's kind of got that option if if they wait till later they've saved up some money that it's not as difficult for her to stay at home with the kids and live off one income or something
[speaker002:] yeah yeah yeah that's true so I guess I oh I'm pretty encouraged I really am but then I'm a product of my generation I don't know I if I'd been born a hundred years ago and were looking at this time I might not like it but it sure seems nice to me
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh I mean I have other things to complain about but in terms of uh woman's roles um things really seem a lot more flexible
[speaker001:] um-hum I seem to see more women in uh in leadership type roles and management positions in politics and
[speaker002:] yeah I mean it's still still admittedly a a a small minority but but it's an improvement it really is
[speaker001:] yeah like the Mayor of Dallas is a woman and I'm sure that twenty years ago that never would have happened but yeah she's I think she's in her second term now so
[speaker002:] oh really uh-huh
[speaker001:] she's she's yeah this is her second term I think she's going to going to uh not going to run again after this but
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] but uh we do and we have several council women that are women but you just start hearing more and more in fact oh the the Governor of Texas is a woman too can't forget that one so Ann Richards
[speaker002:] yeah oh what what's her name no it we don't get much Texas politics out in California to be honest
[speaker001:] she used yeah she was inaugurated in January so
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] so you're starting to see more of that and I know when I was younger it was all the President and still all the President are men but I'm sure one of these days we will well look at Ferraro ran for Vice President and I guess one of these days we'll we'll eventually have
[speaker002:] that's right although during during during the uh Presidential debates there was some really nasty patronizing
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] stuff toward I mean I don't know if if you saw those but I thought she was treated badly at for being a woman frankly I really did by by uh
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] the then vice presidential candidates uh who really sort of I thought had a very demeaning attitude towards her
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah
[speaker002:] and it was sort of it was acceptable to say certain types of things to her that she couldn't say back that kind of thing which I I I I found myself getting really quite enraged about
[speaker001:] uh-huh um-hum
[speaker002:] but really that's a previous generation I don't like it's harder to imagine people of our age doing that and not feeling really stupid
[speaker001:] uh-huh right right I agree well I think we've we've gotten our five five minutes or six or seven or whatever so
[speaker002:] well they've gotten their five minutes worth of us I've enjoyed talking with you
[speaker001:] it was nice talking to you too
[speaker002:] okay take care bye-bye
[speaker001:] you too bye-bye