As the first generation of women in professions, we are very different from our mothers. They could be teachers, nurses or secretaries; few ventured beyond limited offerings, and when they did work, the generation before us stayed in a single job until they retired.
A wider range of career options opened up for us, as law schools, medical schools, business schools all started admitting more women. We’ve felt the freedom to evolve and change course as opportunities broadened through the years. We’ve had the courage to create new
options. Now, as we consider winding down, or retiring from our careers, we believe there is still an array of options ahead.
It’s interesting to consider how our identity been affected by our life’s work. Is our job who we are? Or is it a mutable facet of our being? As one woman was about to retire, after a long career as Dean of Students, a colleague said, “You won’t know who you are when you wake up tomorrow.” He was wrong!
The retired lawyer still sees nuanced issues in the world through her analytic lens. The speech-language pathologist stays attuned to voices and speech patterns wherever she goes. The essence of each of us is embedded in a complex fabric. Our work life and all it provides is but a fragment of “I.”
There is no way to log on without a password and no place to establish a password. Any insights??
Marcia,
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J & E