um basically i'm at home and i have two cats and my husband i mean my husband's great
uh-huh
oh uh-huh yeah
it's wonderful you know and and uh so i'm about forty and whatever
uh-huh
so yeah
around there huh well you're you're just a youngster then i passed the fifty
yeah i'm just a
spring chicken i guess
so i guess our topic's going to be changes in the women's roles so it should be real interesting
well
right oh
so you think we're ready
i think i'm ready
okay
okay
uh you want to start off
well let's see the changes i've seen in women's roles uh since i am in the forty age i'm a fifties baby um
um-hum
and from my mother's generation to my generation it's just a very very wide um it's been a big change
um very much yeah yeah yes
very much and i think you'll have to agree and since we were in uh sort of the ground level the bra burning of the sixties and and we didn't really know what the agenda was going to be
um-hum um-hum
um-hum
um and i think you know it got off to a really radical it has a radical fringe to it that um i've sort of backed away from
i think all things get started sometimes in that manner
yeah
you know they come in that way
and to make a change you know you have to make a splash but
um-hum um-hum
to continue in that vein i think it got a little bit warped and off the track in several areas but i really do think that women have made a contribution
um-hum
um-hum
um to human beings i mean to be human and what it's like and have feelings and emotions and it's okay and i think
um you know on the other hand i don't know that men have changed that much so in in contrast to the women's changes um you know the men stay steady and then the women change around them
um-hum
i hadn't thought much about that but that is true
um i think men are trying
that's
uh-huh some of them
but they don't have a national organization of men to uh help them out and um what's changing them though is the economic situation where both
no
no
um
very much
team it has to be a team partnership now and they both have to work
um-hum
um-hum
and they both have to raise the children if we're going to have any kind of future at all and and that i think has been the downfall of the last ten years you know the me
um-hum
um-hum
um-hum
oh i don't know the the yuppiedom the whatever it was the
hum
you know women didn't know how to go about doing the careers and they wanted to compete with men they wanted to be like men and that's wrong i think they finally discovered that they don't want to be like men men
um-hum
yeah
not no they they hurt themselves a little bit in that way um
absolutely and so that's you know they sort of threw the thing back another
you know ten years that they've had to you know restructure but i saw the greatest T-shirt the other day i got to get some for all my men friends it says let men run the world women have more important things to do
um-hum
there you go there's a lot of truth in that yeah
right but um i think men and women both have valuable valuable assets to offer
um-hum
and you know we shouldn't we were made differently however you come to that conclusion we were
that's right
biologically physiologically made differently and there is great wonderment in that and uh you know we should respect that in each other so
um-hum
yes it shouldn't be destroyed yeah yeah
right and and you know just sort of all swooshed swooshed into one channel sort of thing it's
um-hum
um-hum
it's viva la difference someone said that and and i think that you can truly respect the other person i mean you know Tom is just always saying what a mystery you are you know depends on
yeah yeah yeah
well that's kind of makes it exciting you know
yeah well see that depends on what day of the month it is
yeah
but um i don't know i guess we've gotten more of a in in terms of that i think we've got more of a sense of humor about each other and our roles and but it's still a challenge being in a marriage and trying to figure out those roles
um-hum
well i think now when both are working they have a more chance more of a chance of working together because they're starting out that way
yeah well that's that's a very different way to do things you know the woman doesn't start off at home raising the kids and goes back into her career you know twenty years later
yeah
right
right yeah
um
because you get set in your ways and it's really hard to to really to get help
you do
yeah
uh did you know to get the work load shared
are are you married
yes uh-huh our i we have five children they're they're all grown and on their own so
do you have children
oh my goodness
oh my
they're uh
how did you do
uh how do you mean that
well i mean okay well did you have boys girls how did
uh we have uh two girls and three boys and our our baby girl just had a baby girl
how
oh my
oh my
last week was her first baby
o h how exciting
so it's been real exciting
i i tell you what i don't know what i would do without my friends having all their kids i just love the babies and and since i'm sort of in a medical situation where i can't do that it's
um-hum
um-hum
yeah have you been that way long
just eight years just the most important years of my life you know
eight just eight years that's that's a long eight years though
yeah it has been and um so there have been major major adjustments but that's another story but you know my husband has really really
uh-huh
uh-huh
uh-huh
filled in the gaps i mean i
that makes a big difference
i couldn't ask for a better life i mean if this is the way it had to be this is the best way i could possibly do it and and that has a lot to do with his strength and his
uh-huh
um-hum um-hum
just pitching in and and his being able to you know all all ego aside do a lot of things that really
uh-huh uh-huh
so when i say men haven't changed i guess i should look at my own backyard sort of thing and
yeah well probably your role and and the way you are also has changed though you know compared to what it would have been like say twenty fifty years ago
oh yeah
yeah that's true i mean boy i mean i i would have had so i had so much guilt to begin with and the changes that had to take place
hm um-hum um-hum
you know where i couldn't do a lot of things and um just adjusting to that that um yeah that was a major change but so i guess
um-hum um
um in the end you know you each take your own situation and you and you deal with it the best you can but
the best you can yes
but but women i think are a whole you know sort of riding the course they're they're got a little wobbly and a little shaky there i think
the future of this whole thing is going to be what happens with the day care situation
i yeah that's the only thing i worry about is the the child's love and security that i think that's being damaged um
i think we're going to see a generation of kids that you know are just going to be a little bit um oh not very nurturing i think
a lot
um-hum i do too i i think uh now some some women can can do both they're very capable of working and and
yeah but i wish they weren't so many i i wish they weren't role models for everybody because it's so dangerous
a um-hum um-hum
it it really is yeah
it's dangerous for the woman too to think that she can do that and then when she can't you know the failure of that is
um-hum
you know her life sort of falls apart and she doesn't know who she is and she's
so many have to work to make a go of it it seems or they say they do anyways and eh but i think ones that don't have to the it's not as much of a stigma not
absolutely
to work as it was for a while there
well you know i think that's that's really i think it depends on what part of the country you're in
well that could be
um i i would almost just say that because you know down here in the south you know a woman's role is a woman's role sort of thing and you know
um-hum um-hum
oh
yeah yeah you mean it's stronger there
um oh yeah yeah and and i think that um
much stronger yeah
you know career woman still have a lot of problems here with the good old boys here in Texas sort of thing making career moves but
yeah
yeah right right
right
um you know in terms of women staying home and being appreciated for their talents um it's just like the way it it has been for years i mean you know
um-hum
since the days of the pioneers around here that's the woman's role and it and it's hard for her to um you know amongst her peers
yeah yeah
yeah
be appreciated i think sometimes but then i'm not there so i don't know that
yeah yeah
and i have women that do both and i see a little jealousy on the part of you know the woman what has two little boys and and she has an au pair which is a live in college kid working for her and then she has her business in the back
ah
and then my other girlfriend that has you know just runs the whole household herself and just has two kids and goes crazy all the time
uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh
and so i see i little bit of that and i always wish there was a balance you know with the one and and wish she could spend more time with her kids and the other gal i wish she could just get out of Dodge for a while and get some peace and quiet
um
um
right
but but they're both
yeah they're both different people too that's
yeah definitely so you're right about that yeah
that's where the trouble lies some people some people can adjust and have both
do both well and others can't
and that's
that's true that's so true how how did your daughter do it
uh well uh i have one daughter that works full-time she has two little boys
uh-huh
and they seem to do fine she has been talking has talked about quitting you know and staying home for a few years
but then it's real hard because she's got an excellent job uh
right
