Editor's Note
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We've come a long way
And sometimes we need to take a look back to realize just how far.
By Tina BorgattaPublished: March 01, 2010
As I read through Ashly McGlone’s feature profiling the businesswomen who blazed a trail for others in Orange County, I found myself thinking about that cable show “Mad Men.” It follows the lives of characters Don Draper, Peggy Olsen, Joan Harris and others working in a fictional Madison Avenue ad agency during the 1960s.
I love that show. It’s visually alluring – there’s just something about the style of that decade. The clothes, the décor – the designers captured it all perfectly. (At least that’s the best I can tell from the photos and movies I’ve seen from the era. I was just a babe in arms back then.)
And the creators perfectly captured the roles of men and women, as well as the practices of the day. Much of what was acceptable then just isn’t anymore. Example: There’s a scene from a first-season episode that shows Don’s very pregnant stay-at-home wife sitting at a kitchen table with a friend smoking a cigarette. Later in that same episode, she’s lounging on her bed – a cocktail in one hand and another cigarette in the other. I had to laugh, because I don’t know one woman who would smoke or drink a cocktail while pregnant today – although, I do know a few women who did back then. (I usually hear that from their kids, who all end the anecdote with the humorous quip, “… and I turned out just fine.”)
But it’s the scenes from the workplace that really serve as a window to that bygone (thank goodness) time. The men rule – they’re the agents, the executives, the movers and the shakers. The women serve – in the secretarial pool, despite their college educations. They’re sexually harassed by the men and picked on by higher-ranking secretaries.
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I love that show. It’s visually alluring – there’s just something about the style of that decade. The clothes, the décor – the designers captured it all perfectly. (At least that’s the best I can tell from the photos and movies I’ve seen from the era. I was just a babe in arms back then.) And the creators perfectly captured the roles of men and women, as well as the practices of the day. Much of what was acceptable then just isn’t anymore. Example: There’s a scene from a first-season episode that shows Don’s very pregnant stay-at-home wife sitting at a kitchen table with a friend smoking a cigarette. Later in that same episode, she’s lounging on her bed – a cocktail in one hand and another cigarette in the other. I had to laugh, because I don’t know one woman who would smoke or drink a cocktail while pregnant today – although, I do know a few women who did back then. (I usually hear that from their kids, who all end the anecdote with the humorous quip, “… and I turned out just fine.”) But it’s the scenes from the workplace that really serve as a window to that bygone (thank goodness) time. The men rule – they’re the agents, the executives, the movers and the shakers. The women serve – in the secretarial pool, despite their college educations. They’re sexually harassed by the men and picked on by higher-ranking secretaries. NEXT PAGE >>> |
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