--- title: "Women & Labor: Lillian Moller Gilbreth, Peggy Olson and the Next Generation" date: 2009-09-07T21:42:11-04:00 author: OBOS Admin canonical_url: "https://ourbodiesourselves.org/blog/women-labor-lillian-moller-gilbreth-peggy-olson-and-the-next-generation" section: Blog (Archive) --- [Donate](https://ourbodiesourselves.org/donate) [From the Archives of Our Bodies, Our Blog](/blog)# Women & Labor: Lillian Moller Gilbreth, Peggy Olson and the Next Generation By Christine Cupaiuolo • September 7, 2009 Please note: This entry -- originally posted at [Our Bodies, Our Blog](https://ourbodiesourselves.org/blog) -- has not been updated since the publication date listed above. Hope you're all relaxing today, at least for a little bit. Here are a few articles that seem fitting in honor of Labor Day ... - **At Women's eNews**, Kate Kelly describes the [work of Lillian Moller Gilbreth](http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=4132), also known as the [Mother of Modern Management](http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/gilbreth.html), who was an industrial engineer and a pioneer in creating work environments that met the needs of the disabled. This is the first I've heard of Gilbreth, a mother of 12, and continued to read more about her incredible life at [Webster](http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/gilbreth2.html) and [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Moller_Gilbreth). Gilbreth's papers are at [Smith College](http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/sophiasmith/mnsss25_main.html). - **From Plain Dealer columnist [Connie Schultz](http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/index.ssf/2009/09/working_moms_need_a_break_from.html)**: "Last week, in a 5-1 ruling, the highest court here ruled that an Ohio law that bans discrimination against pregnant women does not protect them from punishment for taking unauthorized breaks to use a breast pump after they birth those babies. And you thought we were a trendsetter only in presidential election years." [Read on](http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/index.ssf/2009/09/working_moms_need_a_break_from.html). [![mad_men_peggy_olson](https://assets.ourbodiesourselves.org/images/blog-archive/mad_men_peggy_olson.jpg "mad_men_peggy_olson")](http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/cast/polson) - "**[Mad Men](http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/)," my favorite TV show of the moment**, offers a poignant look at the trials of women in the workplace in the early 1960s. The series is set at a growing ad agency on Madison Avenue (that's copywriter Peggy Olson, played by Elisabeth Moss, above), and it's full of cringe-worthy moments. Seven of the show's nine writers are women, which Amy Chozick notes is a [rarity in Hollywood television](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204908604574332284143366134.html). Joan Wickersham, who worked as a copywriter in a Boston ad agency in the 1980s, [writes in the Boston Globe](http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/08/31/mad_men_culture_survived_the_60s/) that "long after the 1960s, the workplace was still stuck in the same cultural blind spot satirized in 'Mad Men.'" She shares this story of a client presenting prototypes of two computer games -- the one targeted to boys involved building a railway empire; the one targeted to girls involved deciding where to put furniture in a house. > I suggested to the client that maybe the girls’ game needed a little more substance. The boys’ game was ambitious, intellectually challenging - couldn’t something similar be devised for the girls? Or maybe they didn’t need their own game. Maybe they’d be just as excited as the boys about building a railway empire. Maybe . . . > One of the men I worked with gave me a look. A look that said: “You’re being a pest, and a troublemaker. Shut up.’’ > > > > And I did. Fast forward another 25 years, and consider [Wal-Mart's gendered back-to-school commercials](http://clairemysko.com/?p=30), as described by Claire Mysko: > **Boy version with Mom voiceover:** *“I can’t go to class with him. I can’t do his history report for him, or show the teachers how curious he is. That’s his job. My job is to give him everything he needs to succeed while staying within a budget…I love my job.”* Cut to boy with his new affordable laptop. He’s getting applause from his teacher and the students in the class as he delivers a report. > > > > **Girl version with Mom voiceover:***“I can’t go to school with her. I can’t introduce her to new friends.”* Cut to girl nervously asking “Can I sit here?” to a group of girls sitting together at lunch. “Sure, I like your top!” one of them answers. *“Or tell everyone how amazing she is. But I can give her what she needs to feel good about herself without breaking my budget. All she has to do is be herself.”* Cut to smiling girls walking arm-in-arm down the hallway. It appears that much work still needs to be done. --- #### 0 Response Our Bodies Ourselves is no longer able to accept comments. ![](/assets/img/monogram.webp)Topics - [Advertising & Marketing](https://ourbodiesourselves.org/blog/topic/advertising-marketing) - [Breastfeeding](https://ourbodiesourselves.org/blog/topic/breastfeeding) - [Pop Culture](https://ourbodiesourselves.org/blog/topic/pop-culture) - [Women We Love](https://ourbodiesourselves.org/blog/topic/women-we-love) ![](/assets/img/monogram.webp)### *Why You Can* **Trust Us** - We rigorously evaluate all content - We embrace a reproductive justice framework - We don’t accept ads or sell products - We reject funding from the pharmaceutical industry - We counter misinformation and disinformation - We address the social, political, and economic factors that affect health and sexuality [read more](https://ourbodiesourselves.org/why-you-can-trust-us) Share [](javascript:void();)[](javascript:void();)[](javascript:void();)[](javascript:void();)