The Pittsburgh Press (July 19, 1940)
We, The Women ―
Equality Is Result Of Wars
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Women Would Take Men’s Tasks At Home
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By Ruth Millett
Equality is coming to American women today, not because of feminist pressure groups but because world conditions are pushing women into the front ranks with men.
Women can’t be regarded as unimportant to industry when, with war a constant threat, it is imperative that women be ready at a moment’s notice to take over the work of the country so that men may be freed for fighting.
Women can’t be regarded as sheltered, or a group apart, when modern warfare makes no pretense of chivalry, bombing women and children as readily as men in uniform.
Women can’t be ignored politically when they are as concerned as men over the threat to democracy and as determined to preserve it.
And so it is not surprising to see them being accorded full equality with men – as they were in Chicago when the Democratic Party gave them equal membership with men on the Resolutions Committee.
The truth is, the era of the sheltered woman is past. Our country and our people face a fast-changing world, a world in which democracy is far from safe.
At last we have come to realize all that must be done. We know how important today is each step we take. We know how important it is that we pull together, that we make the best possible use of our brains and our strength.
We have stopped thinking of woman as a weak creature to be protected and sheltered. For in today’s world there is no way to protect woman. She stands on her own two feet and takes her chances.
And because this is so – because the world has made it so – women are being looked on as citizens, as partners, as equals – not as dependents.