well i wondered if i was going to get to talk to a male or a female on this topic
have you been talking to males yeah yeah this is this is probably more interesting if it had been a male and a female
i was afraid we might get into an argument well uh
right
i guess uh there have been certainly a lot of changes in the last couple of generations for uh the roles of women
um-hum
and uh i guess the most significant probably is that so many are working now and trying to juggle
right
job and home and family and all sorts of other possibilities you know they may be going to school or may have elderly parents or you know all sorts of other things
yeah it it seems too me like though women's roles are changing faster than the men and therefore the women are spreading themselves thinner
oh i think so
than before
absolutely i i i think it's extremely difficult to keep up with all that
uh we have to these days
um-hum
sometimes i think i am going crazy trying to do it but
do you work outside the home
yes
do you have children
uh yes they are getting older now so they are not quite as much of a responsibility but they are still there you know they still take time and
uh-huh
oh sure
and i you know i still provide most of the the things that go on around the house
right
so uh yeah and for a while i was going to school to and that it was tough
yeah i uh i think that while it's a good change for i think women to be able to fulfill their potential in whatever they feel you know their
expertise may be uh i think sometimes other things suffer and that i think it's hard to find a balance there
um-hum
but in some ways i think we are expected to do it all you're almost looked down upon if you don't try to do all of these things and that's where the problem is really
right
yeah
yeah i have little children four and one and i decided that it was very important to me to stay home um and
uh-huh
when i i i happen to you know be i'm very active with uh people other people with children my age and most of us do tend to stay home but
when i run into people that you know just have recently had had babies or have very young children and are working full time i there's almost a uh friction between us
uh-huh
um not people that are you know necessarily good friends even though that has happened too uh it it's almost as though it puts you on different sides of a fence you know when if you decide to go back to work then
yeah
you feel like you are always having to defend yourself and and if you don't then sometimes you feel like you're looked down upon by people that go back to work and so you're just wasting your time at home
right
yeah yeah it's a tough one i mean i've done some of both i when my kids were real little i was at home for a couple of different periods of time oh i think the longest was less than a year but still
um-hum
um-hum
at least i was able to to spend you know those first months with them
right
but uh i mostly went back to work because i was tired of doing without things you know the money was the issue
yeah
but uh even now i would i would like to not have to work in some ways it it's a kind of pull and tug on the other hand
right
yeah
i can't imagine just being at home uh although i have a lot of interests and a lot of things i would like to pursue
uh-huh
uh still uh there's there's sort of a feeling of accomplishment with having you know a job and
all that goes with that
no that that's definitely true in fact i i work out of my home um i'm an accountant and i do taxes and bookkeeping and
oh
i uh it it was it's a way for me to stay home
um-hum
and i mean i still unfortunately have to be very disciplined in in doing my work at five in the morning and ten o'clock at night but
yeah
uh but but it it's worked out for for my family uh to have my cake and eat it too kind of thing
yeah
yeah that's a good deal where do you think this is going in the future i mean do you think things are going to change or are we going to keep
having to try to juggle all of this
well i i i hope that they will change uh but but i'm i just i know it's going to be a slow change uh i
i feel as though
a lot of people are going back to just having a
one wage earner i mean i'm just thinking of my circle of people that i know i know quite a few people who have decided to
not have both both uh couples you know both uh of the parents work and yet um
yeah
i i well i hope to see employer based you know helping out you know child uh care centers at the place of employment and and things like that that will help out
um-hum
what do you think do you think we're setting a trend here or
i don't yeah i well i see i think some people wanting to stay home more and take care of the children uh and even those who may not do it seem to be
um-hum
spending more time with their kids and really trying harder at making all of the the family things work
right
uh but i don't know if they're going to ever give up their careers you know It's sort of like they went to school and they worked so hard to get where they are i don't know if they want to completely give that up
right it is a very personal thing
but it would be nice if there could be an in-between a middle ground somewhere
yeah
i think it's hard though when you talk about
about
families and and raising children because children i think children have a hard time understanding a middle ground i think they uh they need security
and yet they
i don't know i from speaking from my children they they aren't real flexible when it comes to things like that
yeah
they uh they they want to know things are going to be a certain way
well yeah i think they they like a routine of sorts
um-hum right
well we'll see i i'm hoping to see more female leadership in in our society
well yes i i like the fact that you know gradually you're beginning to see women in public office and executive positions but it's still a long way from
being what it ought to be
oh yes and the the numbers are still very skewed
to say the least
yeah
okay well i enjoyed talking to you all right good-bye
okay you too Ellen bye-bye
