“Girl Of 1958 Must Earn Golden Coach”

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28481, 10 January 1958, Page 13

“Girl Of 1958 Must Earn Golden Coach”

By

MRS L. B. BOYES

GIRLS VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE OFFICER, CHRISTCHURCH.

AN idea that prevailed in V grandmother's day seems to have come back into fashion—namely, that it did not matter • very much what a girl did with her life upon leaving school, for she could soon expect to be married.

Vocational guidance officers and parents alike are an in-between generation.

They can remember their own parents making very light indeed of such ideas as higher education for girls, advanced careers for women, career-women with homes and families, and in fact any ideas that a “young lady” was capable of developing a trained mind and an independent spirit, and becoming not only a woman, but a self-reliant human being. They can see, on the other hand, the girls of 1958, lovely and selfassured at 16 or 17, already looking about for a not very demanding job with good pay, because *Tm going to be allowed to be engaged when I’m 18, and married a year later.” Own Generation And in between was their own generation which (most of <V believed in education, careers for women, and which couldn’t afford to marry young, anyway, because jobs were not so easy to get, and so one had to be trained in order to have worth-while employment What has happened since World War n is that grandmother’s ideas have once more taken hold—along with wasp waists and billowing petticoats? It is mainly that economic conditions have been favourable to the worker; and also perhaps that adolescents are growing up more quickly in a world where films, radio and other conditioning influences are daily and increasingly brought to bear on ideas of social and personal relationships. But vocational guidance officers, tn their “in-between” generation, have become aware, perhaps more than the parents and their young■to, that quite rapidly in the

last year or so, grandmother’s scheme of things is “out.” Suddenly the. increased birthrate of the war years and afterwards has made all the difference. Where a few years ago there was so much demand for young workers —as, for instance, in office work—there is naw an increasing supply of young people with a reasonable post-primary education, and consequently employers are able to pick and choose. It does not seem to be possible any longer for a girl to fill a position with the sketchiest of training, or to go from job to job at will. In the last year, such bodies as the Public Service and the trading banks have been able to raise their standards to the extent that the majority of apjplicants have been required to have an even higher standard of education than School Certificate. Better Trained

Typists and shorthand - typists are now expected, as a rule, to be better trained than previously, and a girl is well advised to continue her secondary school course for more than two years if possible. For the teaching profession there . b®ve been a number of disappointed applicants this year, for though the need is great, and will continue to be so, the larger number Of young

people applying, in response perhaps to recent campaigns, has made it possible for selection committees to have more choice this year. And this is as it should be, though it is sad for those who were not successful in being selected. This seems to point to the fact that with each year that passes, standards of entry in all occupations will be raised, leaving the girls and boys with less ambition and less education for the comparatively unskilled careers. In nursing, kindergarten teaching, homecraft teaching, occupational therapy, to mention only a few careers for girls, there are indications that year by year the educational level of chosen applicants is becoming higher. Girls who wish to become receptionists, as so many do lit must be the instinctive “hostess” in every woman) will find that more than personal charm is required, that typing or bookkeeping is usually necessary as well. Girls who wish to do modelling will find that with only a few exceptions one cannot mrfke a fulltime career of this, and that a good training in sales work is the best stand-by. Openings in hairdressing are fewer than formerly, and alternative occupations have sometimes to be thought of. Firmer Footing Apprenticeships in the sewing trades are on a firmer footing than previously. There is competition now. Grandmamma’s only competition was in the marriage market But from 1958 onwards, even a girl who hopes to marry early will find that to be in a position to do so she must be vocationally well trained. It may be that even after marriage she will want to continue working. For good or ill, this trend exists. . The greatest value of continued education lies in that full adulthood can.be attained and responsibility assumed when the call comes, as it does to every woman in one way or another. Pride of achievement and confidence of usefulness is something which cannot be taken away, and carries over into family and community life. Grandmother, like Cinderella, waited for the gold coach; but the girl of 1958 must earn it and learn to drive it