Kamala Harris has just made history by becoming the first woman and woman of color as vice president of the US. In her victory speech, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants honored the women who “paved the way for this moment tonight.” And she assured, “I won’t be the last.”
But more than half a century ago, when the world was a very different place to live in, Kamala’s victory would have been incomprehensible. This little photo interview from Minneapolis Tribune asked people in 1963 whether a woman would make a good president.
Two women and three men weighed in and gave their best explanations of why it wouldn’t be a good idea. A single man said that “women wouldn’t do any worse than some we’ve had,” meaning the presidencies had been so bad so far that women could do the job just as well. The piece was shared by Twitter user Nate Pentz and it serves as sour evidence just what a long way we’ve come since the ’60s.
This strip from Minneapolis Tribune asked people in 1963 whether a woman would make a good president, and this is what they said
After the Twitter user Nate Pentz shared it on Twitter, it went viral
Image credits: natepentz
Bored Panda reached out to Nate Pentz, realtor and the man behind the viral tweet featuring the 1963 strip.
Nate told us that his initial reaction was “how there are very similar attitudes about women in leadership now as there were in 1963.”
“Look at the boards, and you see that high-level leadership is still heavily tilted to white men.” Nate believes that we have come a long way, but still “have work to do in terms of equality.”
The depressing responses suggest just what a crazy level of misogyny in society was accepted as the norm. In a short interview, Mrs. Maureen Mellum said that “women have enough problems” already and that “a man is more responsible.”
Similarly, Mr. Tom Romanowski stated that “a woman is too likely to give in” and that women are not able “to stand their ground.”
Fortunately, today, the same question will most likely be viewed as absurd, since this shouldn’t even be a question.
Twitter user Keith joined the thread and shared another old and controversial piece on whether women should be spanked
Image credits: keith_dever
Only 33 countries have had a female leader for four years or more since 1966. According to the Atlantic, the top countries in this category are Bangladesh, which had a female leader on and off for 23 years of the last half of the century, India with 21 years, Ireland with 21 years, Iceland had its women leaders for 20 years, and the Philippines, for 16 years.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka elected the world’s first-ever female prime minister in 1960, 3 years before the little strip from Minneapolis Tribune was published. As the tiny piece of the newspaper suggested, the idea of a female president in the US was not something on people’s minds back in 1963.
More people joined the thread to share their views on the subject matter
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Now you'll understand why Margaret Thatcher was called the Iron Lady. She knew she couldn't afford to show even one nanosecond of weakness.
Or compassion. Or empathy. Or just generally feelings because that too would have been seen as a sure sign of a woman's incompetence. And yet, she's then vilified for the lack of these same traits.
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Unfortunately people like this still exist. Doesn’t matter that there are many examples of women as national leaders (who have done a phenomenal job BTW). I have known many women who were naval officers and were fantastic. Being male or female does not dictate who is capable.
Mate, they're as rare now as they were then. You really believe everything you read? It's just a sensationalist article trying to get a rise out of its readership. It's a marketing tactic for media organisations. It's so common and so effective that dimwits like the apparently vapid author of this repost used the same tactic without knowing it, without even realising that the same tactic is what caused her repost. YOU ARE ALL ADDICTED TO SENSATIONALISM. Figure it out already. F**k. Me.
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I'd disagree: He uses a well-known fact ("women are incompetent") just to kick at some men... The other answers (and "spanking" topic) make it clear enough that that WAS the fact of the matter. There's no hint of any positives, "that would make a change after this incompetence"; just "it's all the same" nihilism.
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Just yesterday, my boyfriend told me about a newspaper from the 80s he found while cleaning up. The job listings were divided into a men's and a women's section. Weird by today's standards... (thankfully!)
Women have been effective leaders for centuries: Queen Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, Hatshepsut, et cetera. In modern times we've had Indira Gandhi, Angela Merkel and Golda Meir, to name a few. They have been far from perfect, but they still hold their own against the boys.
They don't have to be perfect. We all know their male predecessors or counterparts aren't. But somehow women have to be twice as perfect to get half the respect.
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The women embarrass me. I get it, 'product of the times/upbringing', but still. Of course, in 1963, America still flipped out about a Catholic becoming POTUS.
I have a book from the 50s, "der gute Ton" in German, it is a handbook for wifes "Don' t forget that yur husband feeds the family, if he is in a bad mood, there must be a reason you may not understand, so step back and stand by your man"
It is so sad that even the women didn't belive anothgh in one another that really crushes me
This makes me sad and nauseous. It's also trafic that many people still think this way, that no matter what it is, women are inferior. I could add many more words to this post, but I'll just leave it with the hope that, one day, injustice and discrimination of any kind will belong to a distant past we look upon with unbelief. If I ever have a child, I hope that, like everyone hopes for the future generations, he or she can have a happy and fulfilling life and be treated fairly.
Here is an article on a survey of women ceo's v. male ceo's by the Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2012/03/a-study-in-leadership-women-do
Lmao the “women WERE so conditioned” comment. People TODAY say worse things about the possibility of a woman president, or did you forget that we had a woman publicly campaigning four years ago? Or three women running this year?
I was once asked how I felt working for a woman superintendent. Right at home I replied, women have been telling me what to do and where to go all my life.
If I was a man I would not brag that "it's a men's world". Maybe women have enough problems because they are not presidents.
"She couldn't do any worse than some we've had", Vern Hause. Ba-dum-tss
I am not at all surprised at the mentality behind the responses. I read the feminine mystique and women were mentally unwell due to how they were treated by society. A lot of women drank to excess and sometimes even childish because they were treated like children, like less than their male counter parts. Not all women of course, God bless the women who resisted the social pressures. But women went to college and studied home economics, things that would be beneficial to their lives as home makers, and to look for husbands. A lot of interviews conducted showed that many female college students had no real interest in careers. Women in the 30s and 40s were actually far more independent and career driven. Telling women to leave the workforce and focus on families so that men coming back from the war could find work really negatively impact women. For that matter, it negatively impacted men who felt incredible stress for being responsible for a house full of dependents.
Conservative theocracies have had women leaders for decades and yet the so-called "bastion of equality and democracy" that I live in has yet to do so. Almost as embarrassing as the fact that over 70,000,000 looked at the last 4 years and said,"Yeah, America needs more of that!"
It's interesting and sad that even other women didn't think that a woman was capable of running a country. Speaking as an American, I don't understand why our society refuses to embrace the idea of a woman being president. Look at all of the strong and powerful women that have existed in this country: Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama just to name a few. Women have shown that they can do anything in this country and that includes being president.
I wonder if Miguel matos would have a man acting like a child spanked.
I hate this dude his name was teddy he said woman should be spanked I really hate him 🤬
Now you'll understand why Margaret Thatcher was called the Iron Lady. She knew she couldn't afford to show even one nanosecond of weakness.
Or compassion. Or empathy. Or just generally feelings because that too would have been seen as a sure sign of a woman's incompetence. And yet, she's then vilified for the lack of these same traits.
Load More Replies... Unfortunately people like this still exist. Doesn’t matter that there are many examples of women as national leaders (who have done a phenomenal job BTW). I have known many women who were naval officers and were fantastic. Being male or female does not dictate who is capable.
Mate, they're as rare now as they were then. You really believe everything you read? It's just a sensationalist article trying to get a rise out of its readership. It's a marketing tactic for media organisations. It's so common and so effective that dimwits like the apparently vapid author of this repost used the same tactic without knowing it, without even realising that the same tactic is what caused her repost. YOU ARE ALL ADDICTED TO SENSATIONALISM. Figure it out already. F**k. Me.
Load More Replies... I'd disagree: He uses a well-known fact ("women are incompetent") just to kick at some men... The other answers (and "spanking" topic) make it clear enough that that WAS the fact of the matter. There's no hint of any positives, "that would make a change after this incompetence"; just "it's all the same" nihilism.
Load More Replies... Just yesterday, my boyfriend told me about a newspaper from the 80s he found while cleaning up. The job listings were divided into a men's and a women's section. Weird by today's standards... (thankfully!)
Women have been effective leaders for centuries: Queen Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, Hatshepsut, et cetera. In modern times we've had Indira Gandhi, Angela Merkel and Golda Meir, to name a few. They have been far from perfect, but they still hold their own against the boys.
They don't have to be perfect. We all know their male predecessors or counterparts aren't. But somehow women have to be twice as perfect to get half the respect.
Load More Replies... The women embarrass me. I get it, 'product of the times/upbringing', but still. Of course, in 1963, America still flipped out about a Catholic becoming POTUS.
I have a book from the 50s, "der gute Ton" in German, it is a handbook for wifes "Don' t forget that yur husband feeds the family, if he is in a bad mood, there must be a reason you may not understand, so step back and stand by your man"
It is so sad that even the women didn't belive anothgh in one another that really crushes me
This makes me sad and nauseous. It's also trafic that many people still think this way, that no matter what it is, women are inferior. I could add many more words to this post, but I'll just leave it with the hope that, one day, injustice and discrimination of any kind will belong to a distant past we look upon with unbelief. If I ever have a child, I hope that, like everyone hopes for the future generations, he or she can have a happy and fulfilling life and be treated fairly.
Here is an article on a survey of women ceo's v. male ceo's by the Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2012/03/a-study-in-leadership-women-do
Lmao the “women WERE so conditioned” comment. People TODAY say worse things about the possibility of a woman president, or did you forget that we had a woman publicly campaigning four years ago? Or three women running this year?
I was once asked how I felt working for a woman superintendent. Right at home I replied, women have been telling me what to do and where to go all my life.
If I was a man I would not brag that "it's a men's world". Maybe women have enough problems because they are not presidents.
"She couldn't do any worse than some we've had", Vern Hause. Ba-dum-tss
I am not at all surprised at the mentality behind the responses. I read the feminine mystique and women were mentally unwell due to how they were treated by society. A lot of women drank to excess and sometimes even childish because they were treated like children, like less than their male counter parts. Not all women of course, God bless the women who resisted the social pressures. But women went to college and studied home economics, things that would be beneficial to their lives as home makers, and to look for husbands. A lot of interviews conducted showed that many female college students had no real interest in careers. Women in the 30s and 40s were actually far more independent and career driven. Telling women to leave the workforce and focus on families so that men coming back from the war could find work really negatively impact women. For that matter, it negatively impacted men who felt incredible stress for being responsible for a house full of dependents.
Conservative theocracies have had women leaders for decades and yet the so-called "bastion of equality and democracy" that I live in has yet to do so. Almost as embarrassing as the fact that over 70,000,000 looked at the last 4 years and said,"Yeah, America needs more of that!"
It's interesting and sad that even other women didn't think that a woman was capable of running a country. Speaking as an American, I don't understand why our society refuses to embrace the idea of a woman being president. Look at all of the strong and powerful women that have existed in this country: Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama just to name a few. Women have shown that they can do anything in this country and that includes being president.
I wonder if Miguel matos would have a man acting like a child spanked.
I hate this dude his name was teddy he said woman should be spanked I really hate him 🤬
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