Thursday, April 18, 1963. University Daily Kansan
Page 7
Choice of Being 'Working Wife' Needs Thought
By Patti Behen
(Third of a three-part series.)
His foot is down. No wife of his will ever work. . and he's your husband.
He's one of the many things you must consider before you decide to become a "working wife."
THE COLLEGE woman planning to marry after graduation takes it for granted that she will continue in her chosen occupation. After all, she has studied and prepared for it.
"But the young wife must consider several variables before she goes to work," said Muriel Johnson, associate professor of home economics at the University of Kansas.
"Only 25 per cent of the women who work are single," said Laurine E. Fitzgerald, keynote speaker at the 1963 convention of the Intercollegiate Associated Women Students.
Alberta Engvall Siegel, associate professor of child development at Pennsylvania State University, found from her studies of the working mother that "college-educated women are working outside the home in increasing numbers today, not only because of the increasing demand for their skills and the advent of technological innovations which have eased the homemaker's tasks, but also because they wish to respond to the social need for people with special skills."
CURRENT LABOR statistics show that some four million working mothers have children under 18.
The variables which a college woman must consider before she decides to become a "working wife" are many.
SHE MUST TAKE a long look au herself - her energy level, personality, attitudes and needs.
Kate Hevner Mueller, professor of
Cardinal Koenig Enters Hungary
BUDAPEST — (UPI) — Franz Cardinal Koenig of Austria visited Jozef Cardinal Mindszenty today in an apparent effort to persuade the Roman Catholic Primate of Hungary to give up his Asylum in the U.S. Legation and leave this communist-run country for the Vatican.
Mindszeny, symbol of the church's presence in Hungary, is not expected to yield to such overtures, if they are made.
Officially, Cardinal Koenig is here on a visit at the invitation of Hungarian Bishop Endre Hamvas, the ranking prelate of the Catholic Church still at liberty.
He said before he left Vienna that any visit to Cardinal Mindszenty would be only a sidelight of his visit. But Cardinal Koenig crossed the border from Austria in strictest secrecy this morning, drove the 147 miles to Budapest in an official car of the Austrian Legation here. He went directly to the U.S. Legation where the Hungarian Primate is living asylum.
education at Indiana University, tells us that the young woman must look not only at the total span of her life, but also at herself as a total human being, with all parts interacting to give that mysterious force which we call 'personality.'"
There was a time when the home was a self-supporting economic unit. The housewife made clothes, bread, candles and medicine for her family.
MODERN LABOR-SAVING devices have abolished this back-breaking household work of the past, however, and the wife may feel a need to take a job.
"The young wife must decide on the kind of woman she wants to be and the role she wants to play in the community." Miss Johnson said.
"She must realize she may have a lower position in a firm because she is a woman," she said. "If she feels she could not be happy in such a job, perhaps she should stay at home where she is Queen."
THE HUSBAND, of course, is a strong factor in the housewife's decision to go to work. She must take into account his definition of the wife's role and his attitudes on the "working wife." She must keep her husband's ego in mind.
"THEER IS NO conciving indication from research that a mother's employment per se harms the quality of her relations with her children, or restrict their chances for healthy and normal development," says Prof. Siegel.
The children bring much to bear on a housewife's decision to go to work. Their number, ages and attitude toward the mother's working are important factors. How independent are they? Will there be an adequate child care plan?
"Present evidence suggests that it is other factors, rather than outside employment of the mother, which account for damage to children when it occurs," she says.
"Some say the more secure male
Family factors also enter into a wife's decision to work. How adequate is the family's income? A woman should consider her family's social class and standard of living before she makes her decision.
would not feel threatened with his wife work." Miss Johnson said. "The college woman should definitely make her decision to work before she chooses a husband."
SEVERAL OTHER variables must beconsidered if a young wife wishes to take a job. The college woman should give careful thought to the matter before she marries, and the
young wife must take each variable into account if she decids to work
Ruth E. Hartlev, associate professor of psychology at Long Island University, in her essay "Women's Roles," warns that "working mothers have to be freed of the load of guilt with which society has saddled them."
tributions to their home, not only because of financial gain, but also, and perhaps more importantly, because interesting work may make the mother a more interesting person, a more socially respected and self-respecting individual, a mother less likely to project unsatisfied ambitions and strivings on her husband and children."
"At present," she says, "too many working mothers insist to their children that they work only because they need the money, a statement they acknowledge to be untrue."
The life of a working mother is an unusually full one. The college woman must consider this role well when she chooses it.
"Otherwise what excuse could I give her for working?" is a typical comment from many working mothers.
Prof. Siegel says "the working mother role is by no means suited to all women, or to all family situations.
PROF. SIEGEL tells us that "college-educated women are fortunate in being able to qualify for employment which will make rich con-
"The American college woman is fortunate in living in a society which makes diverse role patterns available to her and in which her choice among them can hinge on an individual assessment."
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