I had also suggested to her to try and improve her appearance and the house, since no man after a day’s work feels like facing an untidy home, littered with children and their toys, plus a dreary glum wife.
– Eithne Brady was a columnist with Woman’s Choice and Woman’s View and offered advice to women who wrote letters to her. This one is from Woman’s View in January 1968.
(a) List the reasons why the letter writer thinks the woman’s place is in the home? (b) According to the authors, what might happen to the husband if his wife works? (c) Compare the sources above with the role of women today. (d) In Ireland, what laws discouraged women from working in jobs outside the home in the 1960s? (e) List two organisations that sought to improve the position of women in Ireland. (f) Are women being discriminated against in the sources above? Give reasons for your answer. (g) In your opinion, do women have equality of employment today?
CHANGE AND CONTINUITY
3. At the 1968 Olympics, Tommie Smith and John Carlos won gold and bronze in the 200-metre sprint. When they went to the podium, they took off their shoes to protest poverty, wore beads to protest against lynchings and raised their fists in a Black Power salute. Carlos also chose to open his jacket to show a black T-shirt in support of the working-class of Harlem, New York. In August 2016, Colin Kaepernick chose not to stand for the American anthem before an American football game. He said: ‘I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour. There are bodies on the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.’ (a) Research these two stories and examine if the issues raised by Smith and Carlos in 1968 are still relevant today?
(b) Do you think protests such as these make a difference to their causes?
For more information search online for: washingtonpost.com – black – power – salute – 1968