The Sticky Floor was a blog I started in 2008 but it was left neglected for many years. I moved the content over here and closed the site. Below was the about page. You can find all the posts I wrote under the category The Sticky Floor.
There are far greater women than I who have written on equality and the struggles women have had throughout our history, but I believe EVERY voice is an important one.
The following quote was from a book I read while attending high school. It’s been on my desk ever since, 25 years at this writing.
“We who like the children of Israel have been wandering in the wilderness of prejudice and ridicule for forty two years feel a peculiar tenderness for the young women whose shoulders we are about to leave our burdens…. The younger women are starting with great advantages over us. They have the results of our experience; they have superior opportunities for education; they will find a more enlightened public sentiment for discussion; they will have more courage to take the rights that belong to them…. Thus far women have been mere echoes of men. Our laws and constitutions, our creeds and codes, and the customs of social life are all of masculine origin.
The true woman is as yet a dream of the future. ”
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, in 1888, at the age of 72, speaking to the International Council of Women.
The equality of women has slowly moved forward in the quarter century since I first read this. Like so many other women, I had felt the sting of inequality, suffered through fear of failure & job loss, because of men who took advantage of their positions of power. Fortunately, I was able keep my job and pass my classes by soothing their egos, without ever having to compromise my values, my experience, or my education.
While studying Behavioural Science at St. Lawrence College in Kingston Ontario I had a training placement at the Addiction Research Foundation. My supervisor was an incredibly interesting woman who involved me in an entire pro-woman movement. I was introduced to books and wonderful folk music that empowered females. I attended luncheons in restaurants that only catered to women, I heard the complaints, and I understood the anger.
Even still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that men had been victimized as well. It wasn’t unusual to hear “men don’t cry” or “don’t act like a woman” when they were feeling emotional. In some cases, the pro-women movement was an extreme & harsh reaction that sent the pendulum of equality too far in the opposite direction.
I decided to continue to live my life knowing that evolution would eventually bring men and women onto equal ground. I wasn’t sure that I’d see it in my lifetime, but I hoped I would.
Over the years, I’ve talked to many women and men about their hopes and dreams for relationships, families and careers. Although each of their stories are different, in the end, they all want the same things; to be loved, understood and respected. Open communication and equality will bring these gifts into our lives. We’re so blinded by traditions and expectations, many of us don’t even realize we hold the power to improve our relationships and lives. My hope for this blog is to begin discussions, make people think, and ultimately, have them realize that equality benefits the entire family.
Note: I’m taking down my website The Sticky Floor and moving the existing content over here. This was originally published on November 25, 2008.
