The Unintentional Feminist

  She was born the second daughter of a local farmer and his wife from Iowa. She had two sisters and as the middle child she was nestled between her older, spirited sister Rollie and her younger sister Melody.  Her story is one of extraordinary accomplishments, and although she would respond with surprise when I would tell her this, she was incredibly accomplished in the 60’s and 70’s. She is a woman that would live her life as an example of a strong woman to her daughters without even knowing it, earning the label the “unintentional feminist”.

She lived with an example that was ahead of her time as well;  her mother.  I believe she too would have responded with a certain level of astonishment at such praise.  She would simply say that she was a “good worker”; a characterization that was ultimately a goal of not only her children, but her grandchildren. Within her lifetime she would work as a factory cafeteria attendant (as her husband worked in the shipping yards during World War II),  she would always be a farm wife and upon their return to Iowa after the war she would finish her working life after 25 years at the local bank.  She started with a job and ended with a career.

After the war the Hansen’s returned to Iowa. They moved to the farm on her dad’s side of the family.  Like a scene out of “Little House on the Prairie” Mom attended country school with kids of multiple ages.  It wasn’t until she was out of elementary school that she attended school in town. She was the valedictorian of her class. She would participate in basketball, the only sport offered to girls in Bode.  She would ultimately play on a team that would come in second in the Iowa state tournament; a loss she still talks about as a major event in her life.  She attended college and became a teacher, one of the few jobs for a woman. She didn’t desire a “MRS” degree, although she was not against getting married. 

After graduation she decided to take a HUGE risk for a woman.  In 1963 she got into her new Dodge Dart and headed for California.  She had a job in Los Angeles and she was ready to make a difference.  She moved into an apartment with someone she had never met and started teaching at Carver Junior HIgh School.  It had a student population that was 97% African American. She taught business and as a result  was training young women skills they could use in one of the few places they could gain employment.  Although it was a very volatile time in history she would tell you it was one of the greatest times in her life professionally.  Not long after she left, Watts was riddled with discontent and violence. 

It wasn’t until 1965 that she married my dad, who was an accomplished teacher in his own right.  By 1967 they were living in Rock Island, IL.  She was subbing and in 1967 she discovered that she was pregnant with me.  At 4 months she was forced to resign because of the pregnancy.

After I was born, she had some decisions to make.  Would she decide to stay home with me?  Did she want to pursue a career at some level?  Ultimately, she would decide to become a substitute teacher and enroll me in a temporary daycare situation.  She recalls that when she made that decision her mother-in-law questioned her desire to become a “working mom.”  She was somewhat offended by the challenge.  For a woman who grew up during the 1950’s, and a self-admitted rule follower, this feeling of defiance is another example of how she was not the average woman of her time.  She did it anyway.

  In the early 1970’s she would go on to school to earn a master’s degree.  She would often conduct interviews in our home as she was working towards her degree in guidance counseling.  Although I don’t remember words of support from my dad, he was often in charge of my sister and I during those interviews, so I think it is safe to assume that he stood behind her and her goals. How interesting that she married a man who would support her in endeavors.  She would eventually be able to gain employment in the schools as a guidance counselor.  She would help young women through the traumas and tragedies that were their lives.  She would help them realize their strengths, and would assist them in finding post secondary options that would help them to reach their potential; allowing them to act as examples to other women.

  The Women’s Movement of the 1960’s was constantly evolving on many levels.  Women were pushing limits that had existed for centuries.  The building blocks for this movement were the women that were willing to march and protest, but everyday women cannot be ignored; they too were the foundation of the feminist movement of the 80’s and beyond.  Generational feminism is very important to the movement; anything that is passed down to our children and beyond must continue the fight against the “new” barriers put in our path.  

As I reflect, my development as a strong woman began in 1975, when I was only seven years old and I didn’t even know it! It was who I was; it is still who I am. Feminists can still be unintentional, working against a system that is part of their daily lives just by “doing”.  It is still valid and important.  

I can only hope that I, too, have passed it on to my own children.