How much have things changed in 40 years?

Going through our stacks of books as we decide which ones might be candidates for our February decluttering, I keep coming across books that I haven’t looked at for a (very) long time but know that I (must) have kept for good reason. It’s just a matter of figuring out what that reason is and whether it’s still valid!

One such book is a slim volume of poetry called Is This Where I Was Going? by Natasha Josefowitz.  When I googled the author I discovered that she is 96 years old and according to Google Books is “an internationally recognized author, poet, and lecturer. She earned her master’s degree at the age of forty and her PhD at the age of fifty.”  The thing of it is, this book of poetry was published in 1983, 40 years ago.  When she was 56, not 96. At the time she was a professor of management at San Diego State University, where she developed a course for women in management and had already published a book called Paths to Power, a woman’s guide to navigating the corporate world. She’s clearly done a lot and published widely since then, but it is this early volume of poetry that had attracted me way back when.

Before I decide whether to continue to hold onto this little gem, I thought I’d share a few of these poems with you and let you decide whether things have changed all that much – or changed enough – in the 40 years since she wrote them.  See what you think!

Impressions from an Office

The family picture is on HIS desk.
Ah, a solid, responsible family man.

The family picture is on HER desk.
Umm, her family will come before her career.

HIS desk is cluttered.
He’s obviously a hard worker and a busy man.

HER desk is cluttered.
She’s obviously a disorganized scatterbrain.

HE’S not at his desk.
He must be at a meeting.

SHE’S not at her desk.
She must be in the ladies’ room.

HE’S not in the office.
He’s meeting customers.

SHE’S not in the office.
She must be out shopping.

HE’S having lunch with the boss.
He’s on his way up.

SHE’S having lunch with the boss.
They must be having an affair.

The boss criticized HIM.
He’ll improve his performance.

The boss criticized HER.
She’ll be very upset.

HE got an unfair deal.
Did he get angry?

SHE got an unfair deal.
Did she cry?

HE’S getting married.
He’ll be more settled.

SHE’S getting married.
She’ll get pregnant and leave.

HE’S having a baby.
He’ll need a raise.

SHE’S having a baby.
She’ll cost the company money in maternity benefits.

HE’S going on a business trip.
It’s good for his career.

SHE’S going on a business trip.
What does her husband say?

HE’S leaving for a better job.
He knows how to recognize a good opportunity.

SHE’S leaving for a better job.
Women are not dependable.

That’s How It Is

Most men are assumed competent
Until proven otherwise.
Most women are assumed incompetent
Unless proven otherwise.

Tokens

The only woman at the meeting,
the only black in the group,
the only older person with the young folk,
the homosexual,
the least educated,
the poorest,
the handicapped,
the only Jew,
the recently widowed.

Survival is in the finding of kindred spirits
anywhere.

Finding support in
the Women’s Movement,
the Black Caucus,
the Grey Panthers,
the widow’s group,
the gay community.

Finding support
where one can cry,
or explode,
or just be oneself
without representing
the women’s point of view,
or the black culture,
or the Jewish people,
or the aged.

We need a place
not to be one down
but to be equal –
a place where we are not different
for a little time at least,
a place where we can trust the others,
a place where we don’t fear
the sexists,
the racists,
the anti-Semites,
the elitists.

Where you don’t have to be a couple to be invited out,
or straight,
or young and beautiful,
a place of our own
with a people of our own.

Just in order
to survive.

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Has 40 years made a difference? Enough of a difference? I’m thinking I’ll probably hold onto this early volume of poems by Natasha Josefowitz.