Back to Work, part two

In 1954, the market for employment was challenging for women. Although there had been positions available during the war in Korea during the previous three years, the recent influx of returning soldiers saturated the workforce. With this a growing attitude that women should spend their days caring for their husbands, families and homes was fiercely prevalent.

Over her 57 years, Leta held a variety of positions. Mostly, she worked to earn income. She did not, as young people were beginning to say, have a career. She held jobs—factory worker, hat maker, seamstress, diner manager. She did not have education or training like her daughter, who was skilled as a secretary, or her son-in-law, an electrician. She was more like her son, who worked in a factory that made automobile parts. These kinds of jobs, however, were reserved for men. They paid well; a man could easily support his family with such a job. For this reason, because a man’s responsibility was to work and support his family, these kinds of jobs were unavailable to her.

Women could hold jobs, but these were restricted to teacher or nurse. Leta did not have the education for either. She could take a position in a shop—a market, apparel or gift store—or certainly in a restaurant. During her walks, she passed many businesses with “Help Wanted” signs in the window. But these positions did not interest her. For two weeks, she took a temporary position as a cashier in a diner. However, the pay was low, the work only part-time and the manager crass. She was happy to leave there. An avid newspaper reader, she started looking through the help wanted advertisements. During a period of four weeks, she found seven positions that mildly interested her and were accessible to where she lived. She made the appropriate calls: three had been filled before she arrived; two were not the same positions as advertised; one reported to a person with poor hygiene; and one was excellent, but the employer was interested in “someone younger.”

The next Sunday afternoon she visited her sister Louise. They had recently learned that their older sister Mabel’s husband Arnold had died. As Mabel and her family lived in Vancouver, 2,000 miles away, they had only met him three times, but they liked him. Only a few months earlier, the three sisters were all in Florida together on vacation. Both wished they could be with Mabel during her loss, but by the time they arrived by train, the funeral and burial would be over.

As part of their conversation, Louise asked Leta how her pursuit of employment was going.

“Not so good, I’m afraid,” Leta responded. “I just can’t seem to find anything. Most jobs are for men these days, except for low paying ones. And I’m too old for a lot of manual labor ones, like a factory job, not that I could get one.”

“Are you sure you need a job?” Louise asked.

“Yes. I just don’t have enough steady income.”

“Not even with social security?”

“That’s very small,” Leta explained, “widow’s benefits.”

“And all your savings? What about the house?” Louise added, as she handed her sister a cold bottle of beer.

“Claud Bassett spent all my money, Louise,” Leta said bitterly. “I didn’t even know how much until after I kicked him out, and then when he died, his creditors came after me.”

“I’m sorry this happened to you, Leta.”

“I’ll just keep looking,” Leta said.

To be continued.