The etiquette book I used to pore over in the 1960s specified that a
married woman's letter should always be addressed to Mrs. John Doe.
Only a divorced woman would become Mrs. Jane Doe; a widow would
continue to use her husband's name. And that's how I still address
letters to widows of my parents' generation. But one of my friends
in 1968 insisted on addressing letters to me as Mrs. Martha Krieg.
She said, "To me, there's a whole lot more difference between you and
Laurence than one "s"!" It was the tip of the wedge, as obviously
other people felt as she did.
But the real revolution in how women were seen legally was still to
come. I know a tenured full professor at the University of Michigan
who in the 1960s or 1970s had trouble buying a house for herself. She
was a single woman, and the bankers did not lend to unmarried women!
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Martha Krieg [EMAIL PROTECTED] in Michigan
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