The Undomestic 10: Gail Collins (+ CONTEST!)

Some of you have been following my tweets about NYT writer Gail Collins' new book, When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present. I am honored to present a very special Undomestic 10 interview with her, and would like to offer you a chance to get a FREE copy of her very informative, sometimes infuriating, and overall inspiring book. In a short paragraph (no word limit, but it doesn't have to be an essay), describe one thing that has changed for women from 1960 to present and how it has affected you. I will publish all finalists on this blog (so in entering, you are giving your consent to publication on this site), and will draw three lucky winners from a raffle to win Collins' book. All entries must be received by Friday, Nov. 13 (spooky) to amanda(dot)recupido(at)gmail(dot)com. Entrants must live in either the US or Canada, and sorry, no PO Boxes!

And now, onto the 10!

*Image courtesy of Hachette Book Group


Name: Gail Collins
Sex: Female
Occupation: Gail Collins was the Editorial Page Editor for the New York Times from 2001-2007--the first woman to have held that position. She currently writes a column for the Time's Op-Ed page twice weekly.


1.) Are you a feminist?
(Ed. note: Obviously)

2.) What does feminism mean to you?
Feminism to me just means supporting equal rights for women, and I think when it's presented that way, tons of people who insist they aren't feminists immediately jump on board. But for some reason, throughout most of American history, it's been equated with women being shrill and wearing unflattering shoes.

3.) Who is one female (other than your mother) you admire, and why?
The women who just knock me out are the ones who stand up for their rights, and their dreams, even when everybody around them thinks it's a terrible idea. There have been a lot of them in our history -- people like Elizabeth Blackwell, who decided she was going to be a doctor even though everybody she talked to about it thought she was being ridiculous. Or Clara Barton, who discovered that the soldiers fighting the Civil War were dying because there were no medical supplies on the battlefield, and just filled up a wagonload and drove to the front. There are still women like that in our own time. One of them who I interviewed for my book was Lorena Weeks, who spent years fighting in court against a Georgia law that kept her -- and other women -- from being promoted at work. Absolutely nobody in her community thought that was a good idea, but she just stuck with it and she opened up the door for all the rest of us.

4.) Are there enough women in leadership positions in your field?
5.) Are men and women being paid fair and equally in your field?
There are a lot of women in leadership positions in journalism. I don't think pay is nearly as big an issue as the fact that jobs, particularly good-paying ones, are disappearing for everybody.

6.) How do media generally portray women? What is a good example of this?
I know there are many concerns in the area of how the media portrays women, but having spent much of the last several years immersed in the 1960s, I've got to admit I'm kind of thrilled by how far we've come. When I was a kid, the most popular program on television was "Bonanza." It was about a ranching family in post-Civil War Nevada. The father had been married three times, had three sons. All the wives died. The sons kept falling in love - I guess to prove their heterosexuality, but the women always died. Really, you'd think that the second a Cartwright man rode into town, the women would have run screaming into the cellar. Their ranch was a kind of toxic dump for the female sex.

The real message of the program -- and virtually every series on TV -- was that nothing interesting happened when women were around, and that women certainly never had adventures of their own, except when for the occasional kidnapping. Meanwhile, of course, in the situation comedies, the women were all in the kitchen, stirring a pot on the stove while wearing a dress and heels.

Meanwhile, the movies were enforcing that age-old sexual double standard that required any woman who strayed from the path of virtue, even once, to be punished by at minimum a life of penitence and at maximum instant death. (Elizabeth Taylor won the Academy Award in 1960 for her portrayal of a "party girl" in Butterfield Eight. Her repentance and determination to reform did not save her from a fatal car crash while fleeing her former lover.)

And in the newspapers, every story about a woman who had a nontraditional career was replete with references to how the "woman lawyer" or "woman engineer" did her hair and how many children she had. Since we still used "Miss" and "Mrs." reporters were also required to ask every woman they wrote about whether or not she was married -- whether she was being awarded the Medal of Honor or being arrested for grand larceny.

Now, among many other less desirable messages, I do think a lot of what I see in the media sends the message that women are everywhere, and that they do everything. So if it's not all good, it's certainly got its plus moments.

7.) What can men and women do to reduce violence against women?
Violence against women has to be a no-tolerance issue. I don't care if it's a rap star, a politician or the guy who picks up the laundry. You can't ignore it, and you can't let them change the subject. Obviously, a charge isn't equal to a conviction. But I can't understand a country that makes a football player do public penance indefinitely for abusing dogs, but lets a singer get away with a few mumbled sentences of dismissal for beating up his girlfriend.

8.) How do you achieve balance between work and personal/home life?
If your goal in life is to have a really demanding career and a family that includes children, the only two paths to a life without constant stress seem to be: 1) Be very rich or 2) Have a partner who's eager to take more than half of the domestic burden.

9.) What is one thing you’d like to see happen for women in the next 5-10 years?
If there was just one thing, I'd hope that we develop a network of centers that provide early childhood education and after school programs for, at minimum, the children of poor and working-class women who are working to help support their families.

10.) What is one piece of advice you’d like to give to young girls today?
Have a wonderful time



*Any emphasis that of The Undomestic Goddess



The Undomestic 10 is a 10-question interview with men and women about feminism and how we can improve it. The Undomestic 10 welcomes anyone and everyone to shed light on how our society views feminism (even those who don't self-identify as feminists). If you think you have something interesting to add to the mix, don't hesitate to email me at amanda(dot)recupido(at)gmail(dot)com.



Link to all Undomestic 10 interviews.