When suffragistswon the right to vote 100 years ago, they thought full equality was right around the corner.
The right to compete for traditionally male jobs and perform them without sexual discrimination or harassment.
We wanted to know how their lives had changed, from decade to decade and from generation to generation.
I would have gone to medical school, but there wasn’t enough money.
It was the height of the Depression.
Mimi:It was a tremendous disappointment, because medicine captivated me.
But there was also a gender expectation.
When I was young, people would say, Well, women don’t do that.
And women just accepted it no questions asked.
Judi:I probably thought about becoming a doctor because my mother was so invested in it.
But even in the early 1970s, it was hard for a woman to get into medical school.
But times soon changed.
Ten years later, everybody was calling my office.
They only wanted to be seen by a woman.
Eva:I also have an interest in women’s health.
Being around my grandmother and mother, how could I not?
But music won out.
Judi:My boomer generation was into all kinds of wide-ranging ideas and experiences.
Today for my younger patients, it’s more about achieving the perfect everything, from weddings to waistlines.
Eva:More is expected of women nowadays than ever before, especially in terms of motherhood.
There’s so much pressure all the time.
You have to learn to do things yourself.
She gave the same advice to my mother, and that’s why my mom can fix anything.
I wanted a man who would take everything over.
I had that with my late husband, whom I loved very much.
He had to work to make a living for us.
I didn’t work, and I didn’t want to work.
I defined myself as a wife and mother above all.
Pat:I think it’s easier to access confidence and personal power now than in the past.
Then I could come home and give all my attention to my kids.
Of course, after my divorce from my children’s father, staying home wasn’t an option anymore.
I was a single parent when I founded my staffing agency.
I don’t really believe in having it all.
But I lost my position because of COVID-19.
It was really about her safety.
But it turned out that I love having her live here.
Iris:I no longer have anxiety about getting the virus.
I realize how old I am.
I’ve loved being with them.
We all have the same sense of humor.
She had her first child at 27, and I had mine at 38.
I think I was a little more strategic than either my grandmother or my mother.
This is but a chapter.
You don’t know the end of the story."
Childcare and housework were things men did not do back then.
I would cook before I left for work, and at night I would do the laundry and clean.
I think it was even more difficult for women during my mother’s generation.
It wasn’t because she didn’t have the ability.
Sage:Both my grandma and my mom have made me feel like I could do anything.
They’ve never offered me advice other than Go for it.
Looking at their lives and what they’ve accomplished probably makes me push myself harder.
The internet and social media have created a more reachable world with more possibilities.
And we have to listen to each other.
We want to liberate women’s voices by serving justice.
Hannajane:I have mixed views about it, too, but they’re different ones.
I think it’s incredible that many women have come forward to speak about their abuse.
But I also think it has put pressure on other women to go public.
And it’s a process, and I speak as someone who has been through it.
Unfortunately, it took me many years to talk about it in any way.
I believe there’s a fear of feminine beauty.
It can make a young woman a target.
I think she is a genius, and not just because she’s my mom.
Karin:We were some of the first latchkey kids in the neighborhood.
She was a fantastic mom, but she said, I’ve got a brain.
I’ve got to keep my brain.
She started at the Smithsonian when I was in second grade and Deborah was in fifth grade.
And it was fine.
Laura:My husband, Alan, and I have been married for more than six decades.
He has always been willing to let me do what I felt I needed to do.
We’ll figure out a way to take care of the children."
Men are not faced with these choices.
I eventually became the director, and the Lucy Burns Museum opened at the beginning of 2020.
And yet they went ahead and did it.
I mean, that kind of bravery is just beyond my comprehension.
Karin:We have all volunteered for the museum in various ways, including my dad.
Laura:He actually works for me now as a volunteer, giving tours of the museum to visitors.
He brags about her all the time.
I was born here, so I grew up bilingual.
She was born in Mexico and had to teach herself English.
She got married at 15 and never finished high school.
I graduated and did some college, and Annette has a college degree.
The way I was raised, the man’s word goes.
So I waited patiently until he said, OK, let’s do it.
In the meantime, I worked on local campaigns, going door-to-door, supporting those candidates I believed in.
When I finally cast my first vote, I felt like a giantand I’m only 4 foot 10.
And I thought,Well, I don’t have an executive as a boss.
I am the executive.I’ve surpassed the ceiling of opportunity that my grandparents could envision for their kids.
But they did finish.
I want to learn about computers and programs.
There’s a little hole in my soul that says,I really want this,and why not?
One of those things was a very old Hess tractor, which I loved to ride.
I’d never get away with that now.
Joan:What I enjoy most about farming is the community.
When somebody has a misfortune, the community is huge.
I owned some farms near my parents land with my first husband, Gary, Kathrine’s father.
He was diagnosed with ALS in February of 2008, and we still decided to put the crop in.
But it became apparent by June that he wasn’t going to have the mobility to harvest.
A farm friend of ours organized a crew.
Everyone came together and took our harvest out in a day.
Young people from all over the world come to learn American agriculture methods.
Kathrine:I loved growing up on a farm.
Every day there was something exciting to explore or do.
Who doesn’t want to feed baby calves and take care of newly born chicks?
My husband, Dale, and I were the exception.
Joan:My mother’s generation began to break the social rules.
Kathrine:Agriculture is still a male-dominated field, though.
But lately, I’ve seen a shift.
Now there are more herds-womenpeople who take care of the genetics and breeding of large farm animals.
Agriculture teaches you a lot, like responsibility and time management.
It also points to the deeper aspects of life, because nature is right in front of you.
It shows the way.
