"If you have too much education, your mind's stimulated too much."

"Toni, why don't you think that education's a good thing for married women?"
"Well, I think too much higher education makes them very unhappy and very frustrated."
"Oh, why unhappy?"
"Well, there they are at home, cooking meals, running a house."
"Oh, but still you get a certain amount of satisfaction out of that.(...)"
"You should be contented to stay home. If you have too much education, your mind's stimulated too much, you're not happy to stay home all time."



"I really enjoyed it (education)."
"But what about the average woman who has been to university? She marries, and has children, and she stays home, or she should stay home. She'd be happier if she stayed home probably."
"Well, supposing you start having babies when you're 20 and you're free by the time you're 45?"
"Well, then you can do a university course then."
"Oh, you wouldn't be bothered when you were that age!"
"Well, then doesn't that just show how useless it is?"



- photograph via, description (via BackintheUSA on g+) "New Rochelle, NY, 1955 A nice domestic scene with his wife and kids. Erwitt's son Misha interviewed him about this photo: Misha: You took a photograph in 1955 of our mother cooking dinner, her back to the camera. She has Ellen, who’s crying, in one arm and she’s reaching into the oven with the other. I 'm sitting behind them in a high chair and there’s another kid standing, watching."
- text from the clip "Is education a waste of time for married women?", ABC News, 1961

Lady Santa would get lost in the sky but be better at cooking

Elle UK started the #MoreWomen campaign and made headlines when it released a 45-second video that showed what photographs we see every day would look like if men were photoshopped out (watch). Part of the #MoreWomen initiative is a lovely clip showing British children's answers to the question whether a female Santa Claus could get the job of toy delivering done. Mother Christmas would get a headache, would get lost in the sky, wouldn't have the strength to carry the presents and if she had a baby, the baby would crush all the toys during delivery. It is interesting to see how narratives are internalised and how early we start finding it challenging to view a woman in a position of "toy-delivering power" (via and via).



::: Here it is... A couple of children are asked if a female Santa could do the job: WATCH
::: And here another hilarious one: Jimmy Kimmel asks children if a woman can become president: WATCH




Happy holidays!



photograph by Susan Meiselas (NYC, 1977) via and of Sophia Loren via and via and via

Women in Space

"Mom, my Martian friend got his footprints on the ceiling."
"Here's Tomorrow's Lestoil! Clean it up."

 

"Women of the future will make the Moon a cleaner place to live."

 

Lestoil 1968: Women of the future will make the Moon a cleaner place to live.
NASA 2013: Of the eight new astronaut recruits, four are women. (photos via)