"I HAVE A BRAIN AND A UTERUS AND I USE BOTH" Women and Work
"We have not talked about the last book, the new one, the one which has brought us and the critics to sit at your feet. But at least I begin to understand what has gone into its making. So perhaps I begin to understand what you mean about 'women's work' too. At least I think I do . . ." He paused and rubbed his forehead with one hand while he glanced back through his notes. "They have to write from the whole of themselves, so the feminine genius is the genius of self-creation. The outer world will never be as crucial for its flowering as the inner world, am I right?"
-- May Sarton, Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing
Don't learn the tricks of the trade, learn the trade.
-- Anonymous
No longer diverted by other emotions, I work the way a cow grazes.
-- Kathe Kollwitz
Money speaks, but it speaks in a male voice.
-- Andrea Dworkin
To my surprise, when I found women who changed in their middle years, this growth was most often externally reflected in their work. Freud defined mental health as the ability "to love and to work." Many women agree with him.
Most of us are working now. In 1995, almost 59 percent of all American women over the age of 16 were in the civilian labor force, and the number is expected to rise to 60.6 percent by the year 2000 and 61.7 percent by 2005.1 White women will provide the greatest number of additional working individuals.2In 1995, 77 percent of women between the ages of 35 and 44, and more than 74 percent of women between 45 and 54 years old, were in the labor force, and each of these percentages are projected to rise higher than 78 percent by 2000.3Married women (61 percent) are almost as likely as single women (66.8 percent) to be employed.4More than 70 percent of
-181-
