"MAD MEN" - it was as bad as all that!!!

Recently I have been watching the TV show called "MAD MEN" about the advertising business in New York in 1960.

I turned 4 in 1960 and spent a significant amount of my formative years as a female in North American culture. Today, in 2008, it is an unrecognizable world that we live in, yet the announcement of appointments to the business section in my national newspaper still reflect an inordinate proportion of male executives to female.

The writers of this show should be applauded for their ability to so succinctly capture the mindset of this time. In one episode, an adminsitrative assistant (secretary-female) proposed an ad headline to one of the creative people (male). When the creative recounted this incident to his boss (male) - they both marvelled - "it was like listening to a dog play the piano".

I cannot get this scene out of my mind and am reminiscent of the early feminists who were ridiculed for challenging the status quo of the time.

In my own working life I have seen this discrimination against others and and felt its chilling effects personally.

In spite of this women (including myself) have made great strides and taken much ground, it is a different world - with new challenges - some of them as frightening - some of them less so than the characters on Madison Ave.

Fellow baby boomers, what awareness do you have of your experience of this past? How has it impacted you over the last 50 years? Are you conscious of the influence - does it affect your children?

I will stay tuned to this show - til next time

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