Challenges still Resonate

Oral history interviews revealed that women found many challenges in their roles of being wives, mothers, and/or single women while also working outside the home. The most significant issues mentioned were work-home balance, equality on the job, and childcare issues. 

During the grant project, we gathered women to discuss their personal work experiences and how they related to the findings of the oral histories. There did not seem to be one challenge found during the oral history interviews that at least one women did not face.

As society adjusted to women working outside the home, other, new challenges presented themselves. On the one hand, more women worked than ever before, but on the other, they now were seen as "wonder women" who could work all day and then come home and do another shift with the family. This constant pull in different directions was not usually expected of men or fathers.