[speaker001:] obviously there have been a lot of changes in the roles of women over the past couple generations do you do you wanna speak first about your opinions about what those changes have been
[speaker002:] okay um I think although there have been some I'm still of the opinion that we're second rate citizens in most areas
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] uh I believe probably World War II is when you know the thing started that caused women to be more liberated because the men were at war and they needed women in the factories and things have never been the same
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] as far as the as far as the job market women started working outside the home then but it's taken a long time and I think we've got a long way to go
[speaker001:] uh well I agree with you there I feel that there's there's is a turning point ahead still ahead of us we haven't gotten there yet
[speaker002:] yeah I agree with that
[speaker001:] excuse me but I do think that there is a greater awareness of the the benefits that the the feminine side of people offers you know as well as men you know when you
[speaker002:] um-hum right
[speaker001:] when you see some of what's gone on in the self development areas um you know men trying to find their feminine side is is probably something that men uh
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] half a generation ago wouldn't have even considered as feasible
[speaker002:] no no and then I think it's a good turn I do see uh one of the reasons I also believe there's a lot to be ahead as I return to college and uh
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] I see girls of twenty or so they think there is no problem they don't realize the struggle's just at the last few years
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] for them especially to go into professions that they could've just been laughed at and it can't be done anymore at least legally it can't be done
[speaker001:] yes that's true that is fairly recent
[speaker002:] I think yes and I think just like today I mean it may be people that don't want you in a certain profession they can't state it where I don't think the change has come like from the men's side is they can still feel it
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] you know I think
[speaker001:] I feel I definitely feel that that's true in the political arena it's gonna be a lot longer before women are in positions of authority authority on a on a majority basis you know there's always gonna be a a few but
[speaker002:] yes yes
[speaker001:] you know whereas in education and in health care women dominate because those are seen as supportive roles
[speaker002:] right right
[speaker001:] I think it's interesting to just look at the history of women in history in in several cultures to to determine why in Western culture they take the role that they do because it's it's a matriarchial society in a lot of different parts of the world that that puts women in a much stronger position and yet in the west it's
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] just coming around to the point that we can recognize that the power that that a woman offers to the society you know in terms of nurturing as well as
[speaker002:] yeah right yeah I wasn't aware of that either until uh just a year ago when I took a sociology course that even existed that's how indoctrinated I was
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] but then I'm forty six I grew up with the generation of the guys my brothers went to college and I'm now struggling to no and it
[speaker001:] that's exciting
[speaker002:] wasn't important you know you go be a secretary or be a beautician
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] that was my choice and uh but yeah I didn't even realize there were societies like you say where women were were important
[speaker001:] uh still a lot of that influence yes yes and there's so much that's um inculturated we don't realize in the home how we're how we're influenced I think that even though my parents might've said you know I'm I'm in an area uh health care where there are a lot of women obviously but my orientation was never toward being a physician it was toward being a health care provider in another area and
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] even though I heard from my my father it certainly go you know pursue as far as you can you can be a physician there was this under lying tone in our home because my mom did not work outside the home that it was also okay to not do that and so
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] it's been a challenge to to cope with both of my orientations I I have a very nurturing side that would in some ways like not to work outside the home
[speaker002:] right well I find myself looking towards what I'm doing and I'm leaning towards education and that's still another area of women but that's what I wanna do you know have made I have made that decision that that's what I want to do even if it is the traditional thing it's still what I wanna do and I know it's like
[speaker001:] um-hum hum yes I think that over time we will recognize what our given rights our our given uh gifts are rather that that are different from men and and it's okay that that there are some differences but that there are also a lot more areas that can overlap that that at this point don't I think girls are told that they're probably not gonna be as good at math as as boys are and and they they
[speaker002:] right yes I'm suffering suffering through that too yeah
[speaker001:] they may be influenced by that in their school work
[speaker002:] I was very seriously
[speaker001:] I don't know if I was by my by the influence or whether I just am not very oriented in math as I am to other like verbal
[speaker002:] well I'm not because I have been tested by the office