The Pittsburgh Press (August 5, 1944)
Woman’s place is in the home, woman says
To the editor: Let the modern woman howl with rage and tear out her hair in fury and call me old-fashioned if she pleases. I’m content and will maintain my cause in the face of all the red-hot choler these witches of change and so-called progress can muster, that a woman’s place is in the home.
From the beginning it has been so; and this is a sorry date to alter circumstances which were created, not by man, but by God. Is not the fact that women are the childbearing sex ample and just reason that they should stay in their homes and raise these children? And why, pray tell me, should a woman consider her role in life inferior to that of a man? She says she has the right to express her views as well as her helpmate. Well, how better could her opinions bear fruit than when they are instilled in the minds of the forthcoming generation?
Why should women envy the position of men? I never heard a man express the desire of holding a woman’s place.
It is perfectly right and proper that women should take over a man’s job in an emergency such as the present war; but one can already discern what the results would be should this be a permanent condition. These women are growing tough and callous. Soon, if this should continue, they would lose their feminine appeal altogether. Man would no longer desire a woman or care to have her near him. In fact, when she would know everything he does and be even wiser than he, she would become odious to him. Weddings would flag. No longer would here be a happy family. There is no surer way to undermine and cause the downfall of a nation.
Considering all this, let a woman stand by her God-given duty and acquit herself bravely and she will receive the honor and praise which is due her. And permit me to set before you this problem: If women should take the place of a man, what in the world should the men do?
JANICE JANISTOHRM
3255 Arlington Ave., Pittsburgh, PA