{"id":540,"date":"2015-01-18T12:27:21","date_gmt":"2015-01-18T20:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/?p=540"},"modified":"2015-01-18T12:27:21","modified_gmt":"2015-01-18T20:27:21","slug":"womens-lives-in-1960s-new-zealand-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/?p=540","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Lives in 1960s New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand social mores were clear when I was growing up in the 1940s and \u201850s: a woman\u2019s place was in the home, taking care of husband and children. A few women (like my mother-in-law) worked after they had children, but the job options were few.<\/p>\n

The staff at Christchurch\u2019s The Press<\/em> newspaper was overwhelmingly male. When I started in 1960, there was only one other woman reporter, besides myself, in the general reporting pool. A vacancy occurred in the Women\u2019s Department, secluded in a separate little office down the hall. The other woman reporter, older and wiser about gender issues, adamantly refused to take it. I didn\u2019t want to go either. I was having a ball scouring the big city hotels for interesting overseas visitors, interviewing artists, musicians and others with fascinating careers and histories. But I was not given a choice. Fortunately the women\u2019s page editor, Tui Thomas, was sympathetic to my lack of interest in fashion and the social scene, and set me to reporting on meetings of various organizations focused on women and families.<\/p>\n

I cringed when I first re-read this clipping from my scrapbook, with its sexist stereotypes. Looking more carefully, I sense the speaker\u2019s unease. \u00a0By the early 1960s, change was in the air. I don\u2019t remember who Mrs Holmes was, but I imagine her as an older woman struggling to reconcile traditional values with the emerging demand by a younger generation of women for an expanded role in the world outside the home. I’ve appended a transcription, in case you have trouble reading the old newsprint.<\/p>\n

\"balance<\/a><\/p>\n

\"black<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maureen is exploring the contents of an old black filing cabinet in her attic, which contains 55 years of her writing notes and memorabilia.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Press<\/em>, March 28, 1961 (transcription)<\/p>\n

Importance of Maintaining a Balance in Family Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDo we find ourselves\u00a0 so engrossed in outside-the-home activities that we only think of our husband\u2019s meals and his clean socks?\u201d<\/p>\n

This question was put to women members of the Christchurch Parents\u2019 Centre last evening by Mrs Helen Holmes in a talk on \u201cMan-Woman Relationships in Family Living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs Holmes warned of the pitfalls facing the housewife with too many interests apart from her family, and emphasized the importance of maintaining an even balance in her enthusiasm for interesting activities and her role as a wife and mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn New Zealand today the woman does seem to be the focal point of the family,\u201d said Mrs Holmes. \u201cThe man has to a certain extent lost his aloof position as head and dictator to the family. In some cases he is not even the sole provider\u2014the breadwinner. The pattern of family life has changed vastly, and out of the pattern arises all sorts of complicated factors that have to be taken into account if we are to see ourselves as we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The list of a woman\u2019s activities in and outside the home was a formidable one, often including home decorating, gardening, sport, a part in community affairs, reading and entertaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen do we spend time with our husbands?\u201d asked Mrs Homes. \u201cWith the woman rushing madly at six things at once and the man working hard at his job and being a general handyman at home, when have either of them the time to contemplate the situation and enjoy each other\u2019s company?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs Holmes said that a woman must be able to remain feminine\u2014as she was when her husband married her. \u201cA woman is first a wife and partner to her husband. A husband must be able to find peace and relaxation in his home, though providing an atmosphere of peace can be a full-time job for a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a woman, life was full of opportunities and all of them interesting. But she would need a good deal of physical, mental and emotional stamina to pursue them all. This applied also to all the things a woman had to decide for herself, by herself, decisions which could bring feelings of insecurity and uncertainty.<\/p>\n

In this situation, it was sometimes hard for the woman to accept her dependence on her husband, and might be the cause of a lot of her difficulties. It was hard for her to strike the balance between her natural dependence and her new-found independence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must remember that our husbands have this independence too,\u201d said Mrs Holmes. \u201cThere will be many who don\u2019t wish to be involved with feeding time and nappy changing, no matter what the books might say. We must realize this and respect it. There will be many husbands who resent the interests a woman may wish to pursue outside her home. there may be many wives who find themselves frustrated at the prospect of so many interesting things to do and so little time and energy to spare for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many pitfalls. The man is no longer the single-minded dictator, sure of his authority, the woman is no longer his willing servant who only employs roundabout methods for getting her own way, the children are no longer seen and not heard. The role and status of each member of the family are no longer clearly defined and accepted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Zealand social mores were clear when I was growing up in the 1940s and \u201850s: a woman\u2019s place was in the home, taking care of husband and children. A few women (like my mother-in-law) worked after they had children, but the job options were few. The staff at Christchurch\u2019s The Press newspaper was overwhelmingly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[213,125,24,54,91],"tags":[218,417,217],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=540"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":630,"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540\/revisions\/630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}