May 8, 2008
Remembering mothers who nurtured New Canaan
|
During the 1967 municipal elections, a candidate for first selectman referred to parking as New Canaan’s “worst single logistical problem.”
Clearly, in 2008, that hasn’t changed much.
But many things about New Canaan have evolved over time — most notably, perhaps, the manner in which women have contributed to and enriched Town life. Since its first edition in 1908, the
Advertiser has seen women move beyond quiet charity in church groups to social activism to political leadership in the form of New Canaan’s first female first selectman.
The vast majority of New Canaan women in 1908 did not work outside the home, according to the 1910 Census, and those who did held positions considered suitable for women — housekeeper, teacher, washerwoman, nurse or librarian.
There were some exceptions to the rule, as illustrated in the first anniversary issue of the
Advertiser in 1909, which identified Mrs. Francis Weed as associate editor.
But out of more than 60 profiles of businesses and entrepreneurs in that issue, only two featured the fairer sex: Two unnamed women who served “meals of every description” at their recently opened Shamrock and Thistle Tea Room, and interior decorator and paperhanger Mrs. Emma J. Bradley-Burt, “the “only woman engaging in the trade in the vicinity.”
Many New Canaan women also chose to leave politics to their male counterparts, even as the suffrage movement rose into a fervent national debate.
“... the majority do not want the extra burden forced upon them by the minority, and to give all the people an opportunity of protesting against the injustice of rule by the few,” read a November 15, 1929, mission statement from the New Canaan branch of the Connecticut Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage.
Vice chairman of that branch, Miss Olive Reamy, argued in a 1913 letter to the
Advertiser that manhood suffrage provides each family with a vote, through which “equal representation is possible.” It is not possible, she wrote, for a woman to sustain a reasonable amount of interest in politics without sacrificing her family — and what’s the value in a vote cast by a woman without political interest?
Taking a stand against change, Miss Harmon-Brown of New Canaan in 1913 launched The Reply, an anti-suffrage magazine.
But despite dueling inch counts in the newspaper — both pro- and anti- women’s suffrage — Mrs. George B. Smith cast the first ballot by a New Canaan woman in the 1920 presidential election, which put Warren G. Harding in the White House.
A total of 53 women had cast ballots in a town election a few weeks prior.
Even after gaining theoretical equality however, it took decades of push and pull for the New Canaan woman to reach the plateau on which she now stands.
Independence was encouraged, for example, in Margaret Morison’s 1924 short story, “Have You This Habit?” (published in the
Advertiser) about a young single female filing clerk who discovers a new zest for life when she breaks routine.
But more than two years later, Kathryn St. John blamed wives and “haphazard meals” for the “failure of many businessmen” in the article, “Happy wedlock sure thing if bride is cook.”
“The expert home manager sees to it that her husband never comes home to a delicatessen lunch ...,” she wrote before offering three recipes. “Likewise, she appreciates the fact that variation in her menus is important.”
At least in print, it was clear that women were becoming less reserved — but not always in the best ways.
Bearing the flag, “Home features of timely interest,” female writers flooded page seven of the August 3, 1933,
Advertiser with Dear Abby-type columns (“Undecided has three boy friends from which to pick her ‘steady’”); descriptions of the latest fashions (“Gloves match bow: Organdie accessories dress up dance frock of the same fabric”); household tips (“Save the pieces,” which examines three different styles of cocktail napkins), cartoons and commentaries (“Prickly heat makes girls ‘moan low,’” in which the writer complains about how the heat makes her skin itch).
By 1958, more female adults entered the workforce — 762 of 3,929 to be exact — but their primary callings were still as domestics, followed in degree by office workers and teachers.
According to the Historical Society’s 1958 “Annual,” most single women (not including widows) lived with their families. One could say that a wedding band — not a paycheck — was the primary objective, however, as only three percent of women continued to work after tying the knot.
Some companies actually required women to resign upon marriage even into the 1950s. IBM, according to a document found at the New Canaan Historical Society, announced a “temporary modification” of this policy in 1951.
Recalling the state of politics even in the ’50s, then-Board of Education member Margaret Becker told the
Advertiser in 1980 that taking sides at that time was considered “not fashionable.”
But even style-conscious New Canaan women were not impervious to the changes that swept America in the following decade.
By the 1960s, the Republican Women’s Club and Democratic Women’s Club were well-established organizations which sponsored political speakers, put municipal election candidates on the hot seat — or, rather, the hot plate at teas organized by each group’s hospitality chairman — and generally kept politically affiliated New Canaan men on their toes.
Following a long tradition of collaboration between black Americans and women to achieve equal rights, several New Canaan women worked within the local branch of the NAACP. The group brought well-known speakers to town, published information for distribution and acted as liaisons between oft-sequestered New Canaan and the volatile political environment outside its borders in the decade’s latter years.
While a space-filler in a 1967
Advertiser illuminated the changing gender roles, saying, “Seven million cars registered last year were in the names of women who were heads of household,” more mundane issues still concerned women here. Those were addressed by Doris Lay and Anne White in the 1960s “Talk with Teacher” column.
One mother, calling herself “Hair we go again” in 1967, desperately appealed to the teachers for help with her son’s hideously long hair.
“Apparently there’s an equally passionate controversy about the length of girls’ skirts,” they responded. “They’re cute when walking around, but when they sit down, those skirts just all but disappear.”
A close read of the Classified section in that same
Advertiser reveals remaining gender bias in the workplace, too.
Available work was divided between “For men” and “For women.” Jobs for the former included steno clerk, hair stylist for a wig store, Avon cosmetics salesperson and school secretary. One manufacturing firm in particular required “mature woman with initiative,” preferably one with a “cheerful disposition who enjoys accomplishment.”
In the 1960s and ’70s, the newspaper itself was divided into gender-specific sections, with “It’s A Woman’s World — Social And Club News” dedicated to church listings, women’s group meeting updates and wedding announcements, which featured brides only.
Brides often “became” Mrs. (husband’s first name) (husband’s last name), a tradition that carried on — somewhat incongruously —into the 1970s. In a 1972 “Gleanings from the Woman’s Club” brief, for example, Mrs. Robert Russell and Mrs. C. Edward Wood co-hosted “Does Marriage Have a Future?,” a talk by women’s libber Claudia Dreifus.
While teas, university clubs and charity events still ruled these pages, social change was clear in 1972. A tax seminar for women was offered and an ad for “Maid for a Day” evidenced the increasing role of women outside the home, by drawing a parallel between a working woman’s need for help at home with a business’s need for temporary specialized help.
“Did you know that the Internal Revenue Service recognizes expenditures for domestic help as deductible expenses in certain cases?” it asked, adding, “Businesses have, for some time, called upon temporary labor organizations such as Manpower, Kelly Girl, TLC and others to meet their needs.”
By the 1980s, the “Women’s World” of the
Advertiser was absorbed into the “Our Town” section, and little evidence of gender divide remained elsewhere between its pages.
By 1990, for example, an article on resident Havvra Idriss shared that she had become president of a local hospital without any mention of her gender. Her home life was confined to the sentence, “Mrs. Idriss lives in New Canaan with her husband and two sons.”
A piece on Judith Freedman, running unopposed for her third term as Republican State senator, said she had “unfinished business before legislation,” but talked not at all about excelling in a mainly-male arena.
Perhaps the only remnants of a time past were the wedding announcements, which still only pictured about half of the bridegrooms.
Compare that to the
Advertiser’s latest edition, with the “Family Album” page featuring photos of smiling couples — bride and bridegroom — and detailed descriptions of both their careers. Women are referred to by their own first names in the first reference and Ms. — not Mrs., unless by request — thereafter.
Women hold leadership positions on most Town bodies and sit on all of them, with little question.
New Canaan’s chief executive body, the Board of Selectmen, was graced by its first female member, Democrat Margaret E. Bailey, in 1934.
The first Republican female selectman, Jennifer Delage, was elected in 1973 and served for 14 years. Four of those years were spent with another woman on the three-person board.
In 2003, Judy Neville became New Canaan’s first female first selectman, after a long career in finance, and served for two two-year terms.
Sally Hines, who ran for first selectman in 2007 and currently sits on the board as a selectman, was asked by the
Advertiser several months ago about being its only female member.
“I don’t think there’s much ground to plow there,” she said, before discussing other, more pressing challenges.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
|
