This Sunday, AMC’s “Mad Men” won its second consecutive Emmy for best drama series. For those unfamiliar, “Mad Men” chronicles the goings-on in a New York ad agency in the 1960s; millions tune in each week to see the staff of Sterling Cooper plan pitches, chain smoke, pinch secretary fannies and barrel unaware toward some of the greatest cultural shifts in history.
The show seems to be set in a charming time that belongs to our parents and grandparents. Viewers may tune in for the fashion, the martinis or Jon Hamm in a gray flannel suit, but I watch for the reminder of the opportunities we almost didn’t have.
When my mother went to her high school guidance counselor in 1964, she was given three choices for a career: a nurse, a teacher or a secretary. Or she could get married. “That’s just how it was,” she says now.
My mom was the vice president of the student council in high school but didn’t run for president because, well, girls didn’t run for president. That’s just how it was. She was on the cheerleading squad because that was the only athletic option for girls. That’s just how it was.
Looking at our campus today, it’s hard to imagine a time when Tobin Heath couldn’t play soccer or Jasmin Jones couldn’t be student body president. But only a generation ago, “that’s just how it is” was just how it was.
Over three seasons on “Mad Men,” the character Peggy Olson has moved from secretary to junior copywriter to writer, yet is still paid less than her male counterparts.
On a recent episode, she informs her boss of a little something known as the Equal Pay Act of 1963. “I’m paid very little,” she says calmly and confidently. “They’ve passed a law where women who do the same work as men will get paid the same thing. Equal pay.” His response? “It’s not a good time.”
This abnormality seems as vintage as her flip hairdo and A-line skirt. Yet according to a study released two years ago by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, after one year out of college, women working full time earn 80 percent of what men earn. After a decade, it drops another 11 percentage points.
Obviously, various factors play into these numbers, including choices of occupation and time taken off for child-rearing. But the point remains: Even today, even with almost 60 percent of the UNC’s student population being women, even with women heading up everything from construction crews to the U.S. House of Representatives, women on average are not paid the same as men.
When denied her raise and asked what she really wants, Peggy replies, “I look around and I think: I want what [you] had. You have everything and you have so much of it.”
Both men and women benefit from having strong women as mothers, colleagues and partners.
To whom much has been given, much is expected. We cannot forget those who made the changes toward the betterment of our opportunities and who continue seeking equality for those who come after us.
The next time you sit down with your mother or grandmother or professor, ask them how things were back in their “Mad Men” days.
You may first covet their closets, but hopefully it is their courage you’ll want to wear around more.
Jessica Fuller
Gender Issues Columnist
Second-year journalism graduate student from Greensboro
E-mail: jvfuller@gmail.com
