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Show CHALLENGE TO AMERICAN WOMEN: Building Here is an Easter message from a leadin newforce into the course of Americanlife juvenile crime and have done some- thing constructive about it. Sometimes the church or local government adopts a policy or a program only after the women informally have carried it on themselves for some time. Anillustration of this is the number of places where women became concerned about the juvenile courts and the treatment of youthful offenders, and lobbied successfully for OMEN HAVE a special though her husband holds a very im- role to play in revitaliz- portant post, she is not subject to improvements. In Washington,D.C., for example, a very large program, which has become Church Women United, began many years ago when a group of women worried about what happened to youngsters in trouble with the law. The women decided to hire a social worker to go to court and assist the pressures that he is. With a few notable exceptions, women generally youthful offenders. The social worker also guided the are not employed in the really major women in ministering to these troubled youths, showing them that there were people interested in them and that they had a greater potential than they realized. This pattern has Many women are implanting moral values in youth as Sunday-school teachers. V ing religion and morals in America. I don’t mean in merely shoring up established forms and rituals, but in keeping the church and homerelevant to our young people, meaningful for all of us during a period of shifting values. As a psychologist, I would not make any generalizations about the particular qualities of women as against men. Both sexes share equally many concernsandabilities. But our approaches do differ, and I believe this is a result of differences in the way men and women were trained in childhood, Put simply, women are more concerned with people, while men are more concerned with things. And in an age of increasing computerization and depersonalization in schools, in industry, and in society in general, this makes their role important. decision-making areas but in positions that do not carry the deyree of responsibility that men shoulder. being “invisible,” we are free. This means that weare free te act on suggestions, follow our enthusiasms, and respond more quickly to change. If you reflect on the history of social welfare and communityaction in this country, you will find that many hospitals, homes, and welfare organizations were started by women who recognized that structures of society were not moving fast enough to meet a need and took action. Women’s groups—and frequently groups of church women—usually set up committees and staffed new organiza- tions to fill some gap—and the community benefited. In revent years, we have seen many instances in which church women have concluded that their church or Lest this seems an oversimplification, let me explain: community was not doing enough in Men carry tremendous responsibilities in running our complex soci- the field of civil rights, aiding the poor, or combating the causes of ety and makingthe necessary profits that keep things going. This necessarily means that they are far more deeply involved than women in the structures of business, government, and all otherlargeinstitutions. They are, in a very real sense, locked into these structures and as a consequence they cannot always follow their own ideas or preferences. Women, however, are not locked into the governing structures of so- ciety in the way in which men are. When a woman is a h ife, even Family Weekly, March 29,1970 Cynthia Clark Wedel, 61, a@ psycholo- gist and the author of five books on the role of women in American aoe life, is the wife of a prominent Episcopal theologian, Dr. been followed in many cities. Even in this age in which a great many women, including wives and mothers, are employed outside the home, there remain more women than men dealing directly with the education and problems of children. The majority of American mothers still are home with their children, and other *vomen are dealing with children in Head Start programs, day nurseries, and schools. Teaching religion and morals remains, as it has always been, primarily a responsibility of women. Many fathers and mothers alike are deeply concerned today about what seems to be happening in our schools. Again, womenare in a better position than men to get directly involved and help remedy some of the problems. Too often, thoughtless per- Theodore O. Wedel. Last December she was elected president of the National Council of Churches, the first woman to hold that office. The Council, composed of 83 Protestant and orthodox denominations with 45 million members, is the largest cooperative religious body in the United States. sons think that somehowitis all the fault of the schools, the teachers, or the school system in general that so much turmoil and confusionexist in our schools. Others think it must be the fault of today’s children. 5 The problems are many and complex, however, with probably ample blame to go around for all of us, young andold. But certainly one major difficulty is simply that there are so many morechildren in school. Wehavea larger population, with more young people of school age, and our schools increasingly are becom- ing overerowded Communities find sufficient money quated system of and inadequate. it hard to raise under our antifinancing schools. Yet in this modern world, with all the intricacies of modern communications and education, young people more than ever need personal attention and the support of a one-to-one relationship. In many communities, programs of volunteer aides are being developed in the school systems. This is an excellent means for mothers, esPecially those who want to be home when their children are there, to make an important contribution to revitalizing the moral fiber of our country. If mothers would volunteer to help in their local schools, to be teachers’ aides, and give individual attention to youngsters who ied need it, they would find that own children and their entire community would benefit. Coping with the generation gap appears to be a universal problem. It’s a very real problem and always has been. There always has been a tremendous gap between the older and the younger generations. They live in different worlds and are governed by different standards. But most knowledgeable observers concur that there may never have been a more abrupt generation gap than the present one. Anthropologist Margaret Mead suggests that this is because the generation that has grown up since the end of World War II has lived all of its life in a world radically different than that whichits pdrents knew. Youth never has known peace in the sense thatthe older generation knew it between the two World Wars. It is a world—to youth—in which the threat of atomic annihilation always |