Employment: Caution: Women at Work

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Men, moreover, frequently do not believe that women can do a job. Vancouver Insurance Agent Ruth Carothers found, when she was an adjuster, that male customers could not believe that she knew enough about automobiles to do her job. "I would tell them I was the adjuster and they'd ask again for the real adjuster. They just couldn't believe it." Many men, and most women, also do not like the idea of reporting to a female boss. Says John Hancock's Joan Keenan: "It's difficult for a man to accept the idea of reporting to a woman at work. He does that at home, and that's enough."

Limited Mobility. Another general problem is the fact that married women have limited mobility and are less able than men to transfer to different jobs in other cities, as big corporations would like them to do.

In spite of such drawbacks, more and more women are going to work. Money is the main motive, but a job also fulfills emotional needs and helps women get rid of their tensions. The result, observers generally agree, is a happier home life—as long as the wife does not make more money than her husband. Says Mrs. Nilza de Vasconcellos, 48, sales manager for a textile factory in Rio de Janeiro: "A woman with a career can talk with her husband, instead of just listening to him. A dialogue is always better than a monologue, and an excellent introduction to love."

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