Introduction: Women in Society: Changes and Challenges

In 1905, Belle Case La Follette, the first woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin Law School, wrote to her husband, Senator Robert M. La Follette, that whenever she got discouraged, “I always think there is nothing I would rather be than your wife and the mother of your children and I have no ambition except to contribute to your happiness and theirs and to your success and theirs.” Six years later she was a self-professed feminist, publicly advo-

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cating a very different view of women’s work and position in modern life. She encouraged women to participate fully in society, urging them to free themselves from their parasitic dependence on their husbands, develop their talents, and be of service to humanity. She no longer saw her husband’s various frustrating behaviors as indicators of her own failures but viewed them instead as qualities of his personality that she was entirely unable to change. Relieved of this great burden of guilt, she turned her attentions increasingly to advocating reform, especially the expansion of women’s rights.

Women’s views of themselves and their place in society as individuals and as a sex continue to evolve, frequently demanding psychological adjustments not only from generation to generation, but within a single lifetime. A century ago, La Follette’s mindset changed profoundly over just a few years — society is still catching up to her vision of the proper role of women within the family and in society as a whole.

In my own life, psychological adjustments concerning women at work and in modern life have been remarkably dramatic — and maddeningly slow. I am grateful to the women before me who blazed the academic trail, proving that women can not only hold their own in the various disciplines previously reserved for men, but make unique contributions that enrich those fields. Occasionally I feel at a disadvantage professionally because of my gender. The far greater threat of oppression I see among my colleagues and neighbors, however, stems from the attitudes by and towards “superwomen” who struggle mightily to juggle career and family and, like Belle La Follette before her transformation, suffer from guilt when they do not succeed at something in which they are doomed to fail.

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My own career and family thrive not because I am a superwoman, but because I am a partner in an egalitarian marriage. The defining moment in our relationship came the day we brought our first child home from the hospital. My husband, an only child with minimum previous exposure to newborns, was holding our day-old son. When the baby began to fuss, my anxious husband prepared to hand him over to me. Part of me wanted to claim the power and authority implied in this act, but the wiser part inspired me to say, “You’ve been a parent just as long as I have, and you’re doing fine.” By resisting the temptation to claim any superior ability to comfort our son by virtue of my sex, I empowered my husband, giving confidence to his abilities as a father. From that day to this (that newborn son has just been accepted into college), we have shared equally in all household and child-rearing activities (our children were bottle-fed), including laundry, homework assistance, and cooking.

Combining career and family is never easy. My husband and I, both busy professionals, found ourselves pushed to our upper limits on more than one occasion even as we shared all home duties and responsibilities. Had either of us prescribed to the prevailing mentality that, especially when it comes to housekeeping and childrearing, women are hardwired to carry out these responsibilities and should do so because they are better at them then are men, I would have felt overwhelmed, inadequate, and guilty.

The prevailing psychology damages women at work and within the family, and is self-perpetuating. A recent study reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education reveals that the few men who take paternity leave perform much less child care than do their female counterparts. Rather than asking why women continue to carry out the majority of baby care activities, and encouraging a new psychology of parenthood as a series of equitably shared responsibilities (not to mention the accompanying joys), the study concludes only that continuing to extend paternity leave may be unwise, perpetuating and solidifying the superwoman myth.

At a recent public presentation, Gloria Steinem concluded, “I’ll know when we’re really succeeding when, after a talk at a campus like this one, as many men come up to me as do women, to ask, ‘How can I successfully combine career and family?’” As long as that question continues to be asked primarily by women, and matters involving children and family continue to be perceived, personally and publicly, as “women’s issues,” the prevailing psychology will persist, exhausting “superwomen,” and robbing both men and women of the satisfactions of genuine partnership.

What it means to be a woman continues to be redefined, however, as do perceptions of a woman’s work and her proper role in society. This “Women in Society” issue of Clio’s Psyche examines a broad range of women’s experiences in the modern era, as influenced by a variety of factors.

This issue’s Distinguished Scholar interview with Nancy Chodorow gives new insight into the thoughts of this enormously influential and innovative psychoanalyst. Chodorow’s role as a leading theorist in psychoanalysis and feminist psychology is grounded not only in her comprehensive grasp of the

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psychoanalytic discourse, but also in her evolution of thinking about gender issues, particularly as they influence parenting. Her wide-ranging personal memories and professional observations frame and provide important context for the issue’s essays, which examine an array of topics ranging from Martha Stewart to feminism in Israel.

The first essay provides a psychoanalytic perspective on the myth of the “Jewish Mother,” highlighting the interrelationships between psychology, religion, linguistics, place, and culture. The next four essays concern the world of work and provide firsthand accounts by women (a computer specialist, a historian-military analyst, a psychohistorian, and a professor of physics and astronomy) training and working in professions previously reserved for men. The psychobiographical accounts of their pioneering efforts reveal what inspired them to reject prevailing gender stereotypes, how it felt to be viewed as “other,” and the challenges and rewards of struggling to break gendered social barriers in order to pursue professional passions.

The next two essays provide psychological insight into the powerful interplay between gender, ethnicity, and culture across the generations. The first of these provides a view of women in Israeli society that is in sharp contrast to the earlier essay on the “Jewish Mother,” as the author examines, through personal experience, the tensions between popular perceptions of Israeli egalitarianism and the realities of ongoing oppression. It is followed by a personal account of an elderly woman’s Alzheimer’s-induced decline and the emotions it unleashes in her daughter.

The final four essays bring insights to bear on more recent gender-charged events and personal experiences. This grouping begins with an investigation into the role of psychological dynamics in American women’s political attitudes and voting patterns. It is followed by an analysis of the role of gender in the fate of Martha Stewart, especially as she exhibited dual gender role identities. The impact of persistent gender stereotyping on men as well as women is presented from the male perspective, preceding an account of the challenge to young women’s self-esteem wrought by Western culture’s current obsession with female appearance. The essays conclude with Paul Elovitz’s far-ranging and cross-cultural thoughts about the effect of the remarkable gender transformations of recent years on both men and women, and of the trials and triumphs emerging from the ongoing tensions and adjustments.

Taken together, the essays in this “Women in Society” special theme issue highlight the many areas in which psychological adjustments remain ongoing in response to the changes and challenges emerging from the powerful interplay between women, work, and modern society.

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