Interview Transcription

1. Marge Ganey Interview, History 150 Spring 2017, Conducted by Connor Ganey, March 25^th 2017.
2.  My interview was conducted in person, at Brooke Grove Rehabilitation Center, in Olney, Maryland. This is where my grandmother has been staying since having to get her his replaced after a fall. First, I had to plan a good time to interview her because she is still in rehab and spends a lot of her day with physical therapist, occupational therapists, and has a lot going on there. The first time I came home to interview her, she was not up to it because she was still recovering from the surgery. I walked around the rehab center trying to find a quiet space at the center, but I found that the best place to do the interview was in her bedroom. It was fairly quiet, but the issue was that her 95-year-old roommate’s TV was on, and due to her age the TV was pretty loud. Therefore, I would say a big obstacle was finding a quiet place to conduct the interview. The only editing I did to the recording was taking out a little in the beginning and end when my grandmother and I were just chatting. I wish I knew how to edited the TV background noise out. I used an app on my phone called, Recorder.
3. Margaret Ann Ganey was born in 1938 in Washington, DC at Columbia Hospital for Women. She was born to Otto Oliver Olsson and Mary Olsson. She was the youngest of six children. She grew up in Washington, DC as well, attending St. Gabriel’s Grade School through 8^th She attended St. Patrick’s for high school. She graduated from high school in 1956 and got a job immediately after graduation. My grandmother did not attend college. Both of her brothers went to college immediately after high school. She had one sister that worked full-time and went to college in the evening. She had to pay for her own college. It took several years to graduate. My grandmother married my grandfather in 1959 and had three boys. My dad is the oldest. When all of the kids were in school, my grandmother returned to work, so both parents worked while they raised their children. My grandmothers career was a secretary. She worked at the Atomic Energy Commission and the State Department early in her career. She later served in that same role at both a party planning firm and the University of Maryland for the School of Engineering. My grandfather was an electrician all of his career. My grandfather died right after his retirement in 1998. My grandmother then became very involved in the church. She sings in the choir and is involved in the Ladies of Charity. She had hip replacement surgery last month and is hoping to get back home from the rehabilitation center in the next few weeks.
4. The main era that is in question for this interview is when my grandmother was in her early life to about her 50s. Therefore around 1950s to 1980s. There was a lot going on during these decades and a lot of history that she got to experience. The main topic for this interview is gender and general social change has shifted over her lifetime. There was a major women’s right movement happening in the middle of my grandmothers’ life. The 1960s-1970s feminist movement overall was to gain more rights, in the workforce, for women. It was happening because, “the world of American women was limited in almost every respect, from family life to the workplace” (The 1960s-70 American Feminist Movement Breaking Down Barriers). The typical woman, “was expected to follow one path: to marry in her early 20s, start a family quickly, and devote her life to homemaking” (The 1960s-70 American Feminist Movement Breaking Down Barriers). This movement started in attempt to change the demanding path women were expected to take. During this time period women were considered property of their husbands and a “keeper” for their children. Being a mother and wife consumed their lives and the average women spent, “55 hours a week doing domestic chores” (The 1960s-70 American Feminist Movement Breaking Down Barriers). With this being said, it was practically a full time job. If a women was working outside the house, first they made a significantly lower salary than men and second, their occupation was limited to either being a nurse, teacher or secretary. Women were unwanted in professional programs. Next, in 1954, a communist revolution, which became known as the Vietnam War, began. Then by the mid 1960s the United States became involved to try to stop the spread of communism in Vietnam. The United States suffered, “over 47,000 killed in action plus another 11,000 noncombat deaths; over 150,000 were wounded and 10,000 missing” (Vietnam War). What followed the war were protests, which included people who were against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. The movement began in 1965 after the United States began bombing North Vietnam. Lastly, my grandmother was living in DC when the March on Washington happened on August 28^th in 1963. There were 200,000 to 300,000 gathered to stand up for civil rights for African Americans.

Works Cited – MLA Format

 

“Vietnam War.” HistoryNet. HistoryNet, 2017. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

 

“The 1960s-70 American Feminist Movement Breaking Down Barriers.” Tavaana. E-   Collaborative for Civic Education, 2017. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

 

1. Transcription

CG: What were some gender norms you experienced during your childhood?

 

Mrs. Ganey: My mother tended to treat my brothers a little, well I would not say nicer, but I had to do things I did not have to do. Such as going to the store, pick up groceries, help her around the house, and things like that.

 

CG: What activities did girls and boys partake in?

Mrs. Ganey: Well we had a playground and we would go there and my brothers would play baseball or softball, and they had swings, the normal stuff, but then we also had a little playground across from our apartment. It was just a lot [of land] so to speak. We just had a good time.

 

CG: Did you think boys played sports more than girls?

Mrs. Ganey: I think so, I do, I really do.

…

CG: What were the expectations for young women after finishing high school?

 

Mrs. Ganey: Not that we would go to college, we did not have the money, but that we get a good job and give money to our parents to help out with things. That is what we did.

 

CG: What did you do after graduation/what did your friends do, did you just get a job right away?

 

Mrs. Ganey: I did.

CG: What was your job?

Mrs. Ganey: I worked for Atomic Energy Commission, the government. I liked it. That is where … I was introduced to Joe [her future husband]

 

CG: Did you feel a big push to get married and have children right after high school?

 

Mrs. Ganey: Not right after high school, I wouldn’t say. I didn’t feel that way, but I do admit in that era a lot of my friends were getting married, but not right after high school. After working a little while. You know what I mean.

 

CG: When you got married and had kids did you see the gender norms shift from how you grew up to how your children grew up so did Chris and Tom play sports more than girls and all of that, was that pretty similar to how you grew up?

 

Mrs. Ganey: Yes, although I only had boys. So I can’t really say. But I do notice that my granddaughters play more sports. And you know than previous girls did.

 

CG: Yeah, definitely.

 

When Chris, Tom and Steve [her children] were growing up did you want to work?

 

Mrs. Ganey: I did. As soon as Steve [her youngest son] went to kindergarten, I got a part-time job. I was able to work part-time jobs. So I could be home when they got home from school. It was still kind of like that, where you try to make sure you were still there for the kids.

 

CG: With you and pop-pop both working did you think your gender roles were each equal at home? So like did you guys both clean and cook or was it mostly you did that and he did the handy stuff.

 

Mrs. Ganey: The one time worked at night, I went to work at 4:00 and Joe got home from work at 4:00 so yes he had to make sure he was there for the boys and fix, maybe not fix the dinner, but make sure it was doled out. Yes, he did quite a bit.

 

CG: So, would you say it was equal or did you still do. . .?

Mrs. Ganey: I wouldn’t say it was exactly equal. I know I demanded a dishwasher because I would come home from work at 10:00 at night with the dishes all still there. The boys and Joe didn’t do it. It was not really equal, but for those days he did a lot I mean some men would say I am not going to do it.

 

CG: Oh yeah, definitely.

Were there any stereotypes in the workforce? Did you find that your boss was a man and women were typically below them?

 

Mrs. Ganey: I have a different thing that happened to me. I had some men bosses, yeah, but I had a woman boss that was equal to them men.

CG: Oh really, how was that?

 

Mrs. Ganey: She was very smart. She traveled. She went to Israel and those countries, because it was the State Department. And that is what she did and she was smart as a whip. So I had a good opinion of women being able to and that was in 1960, before I had Chris.

 

CG: How did you feel about the 1960s and 70s feminist movement, did you have any thoughts about it?

 

Mrs. Ganey: Not much because I was a new mother and raising my boys and I can’t say I had a great opinion. I am sure I was for it, but I would not have gone out and marched.

 

CG: So another questions is growing up in DC do you remember the March on Washington?

 

Mrs. Ganey: … Martin Luther King spoke in front of the monument, that was the best speech I ever heard. Yes, I was impressed by the March on Washington, probably more than most that happened at that time.

CG: So can you explain what your job was again.

Mrs. Ganey: Well, I left high school and went to work for Atomic Energy Commission, this was not when I worked for the women, this is when I worked for a man, but he was very nice. They wanted to move out to Germantown. Which was way the heck out in those days so I got myself another job with the women that worked for/at the State Department and I worked there. And then I got pregnant with your father. I had this young boss …kind of snotty and he has a customer coming in and he says my secretary and my wife are both pregnant. Which is kind of weird back in those days.

 

CG: So were you able to take maternity leave?

Mrs. Ganey: Yes, as a matter of fact, they kept calling me. They wanted me to come back, my boss. But I had no intentions in those days you stayed home, you didn’t go back to work. I had my mother and Joe’s mother you did not ask them to babysit or get anybody else. That is what happened.

 

CG: My last question, do you remember the Vietnam War protests at all?

 

Mrs. Ganey: Yeah, yeah.

 

CG: And did you have any feelings toward those either?

Mrs. Ganey: Well, yeah. Who wasn’t against it, everybody was. I don’t know if I knew how horrible it was at the time. Like I said I was raising children and not that you didn’t think about things it was horrible.

End Transcription

5. Overall, if I could do this interview differently I would have not interviewed my grandmother. This is because with her still being in rehab I did not think she would still be so tired. This led her to be less talkative than she usually is and her answers were not as elaborate as I had hoped. I felt it flowed because my grandmother and I are so close that it felt more like a conversation than an interview. In addition, I found it easier to go off script because I asked follow up questions based on her answer. Also, I would add to the original question in order for my grandmother to understand the question better. The only reason I think the divergences were negative is because I feel that some of my follow up questions might have been somewhat leading. This might have caused her answers to be a little skewed. I made a mistake with the question order; I accidentally forgot to have to talk more in depth about her job when I originally asked her. Therefore, I had to go a little out of order and go back to the questions about her job. Lastly, I wish I could have asked her more in depth about Brown v Board of Education but that applied to public schools and she attended a catholic high school.

PART TWO

Since my original interview planned with my grandmother did not go as well as I had hoped, I decided to do a brief interview with my mother for a little more content. This interview asked similar questions but now a generation ahead of my grandmother. It was interesting to hear how the gender roles in households have shifted since my grandmother grew up, to how my mother grew up to how my mother has raised me. When my grandmother and mother grew up their parents roles around the house were fairly traditional, with the fathers working and mother taking care of things around the house. Now both my parents share the duties of raising brother and I. They also both clean, cook and do various chores around the house. Over the decades I believe that sharing the roles is becoming more common. In addition, my mother has worked at the same office for over 25 years and she got to experience the shift from males being in higher power to now being surrounded by mostly females in the same positions.

Transcript:

CG: What were some gender norms when you were you were young around your house?

 

Cathy: I would say it was pretty typical in my house for growing up in the 70’s. My dad worked full-time and had multiple jobs. My mom stayed at home with the kids. Did all of the household chores – the cleaning, the cooking, the grocery shopping, and laundry. I would help her with those things. I had 3 older brothers and they would do more of the yard work – raking, mowing the lawn, taking out the trash, more masculine roles.

CG: What did you do after you graduated high school?

 

Cathy: I went to a four-year college.

 

CG: Was that a common thing to do for most people?

 

Cathy: I would say about half of my friends in my class went to college. It wasn’t a big push to go to college. I actually did all of the work to apply myself to go to college, my parents weren’t really involved in it. So I would say it was just beginning to become more popular for going to college, but I would say only about half of my friends went.

CG: Can you tell me what your job is now?

 

Cathy: I am a Director of Human Resources for the Federal Government. I work for the Department of Health & Human Services for a small agency providing healthcare to the underserved.

 

CG: How long have you worked there?

 

Cathy: I have worked for the Federal government for over 25 years. I started as a summer student when I was in college.

 

CG: Since you worked there for 25 years, have you noticed any gender shifts or anything like that over the years?

 

Cathy: Definitely, I actually work in the exact same office that is started in when I was a sophomore in college. I had different jobs, but I came back to this office probably about 10 years ago.   When I was first in this office it was mainly men in analyst and supervisory roles and the women were more in the administrative roles like secretaries. After working my way through different organizations of the government and coming back to the exact same office, there were more women in the analyst and supervisory roles. And I noticed a big difference just in my field, the human resources field, has definitely shifted from men to women overall.

 

CG: Do you think it is more common to have women in these roles in the 2000’s?

 

Cathy: Definitely more common. My organization actually has probably 75% of the supervisory roles are held by women. When I first started I could probably name the number of women supervisors on one hand.

 

CG: Now we are going to talk about how the gender roles shifted when from when you were growing up and what your parents did and to how you have raise me and Devin with dad?

 

Cathy: There has definitely been a shift. Both your dad and I are working parents. My job is pretty demanding. When you guys were first born I actually did a lot of traveling with my job. Your dad would pick you up and take you to daycare. He would make dinners and do the laundry. I would say, we split up the household and taking care of you guys – I would say 50/50, but I would give myself 60/40 because I would actually maintain the calendar and make sure everything ran like clockwork. With us splitting the roles, of the household and taking care of the children, was very different when I grew up. Like I said before my mom definitely took care of the children and the household where my dad was definitely the income provider. That is totally different, we both share this 50/50ish. Which I think that is more typically of how household roles are in today’s times.