WOMEN IN DALLAS: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

IT’S BEEN NEARLY TEN YEARS SINCE D TOOK A GOOD LONG look at the Dallas woman. And a lot, thank goodness, has changed since then. In our March 1978 issue, we called the package of stories “a celebration.. .an overdue tribute paid to a rare species of the fair sex.” Then we lumped Sarah T. Hughes, Adlene Harrison, lola Johnson, and “any woman you see at the Neiman’s end of NorthPark” together and said they all had that “unique something” peculiar to The Dallas Woman.

Well, we’re past all that now, we hope. Though we could also call this current package of stories a tribute-not to some elusive feminine mystique-but rather to the Dallas woman and her progress over the years toward equality in this man’s town. But in addition to looking at where we’ve been, we also address the future. Where do we go from here?

Certainly Dallas reached a milestone when in April the citizens at long last elected a woman mayor. We have progressed. But there are still strides to be made. In business, women earn only seventy cents to every dollar earned by men. And that gap is not narrowed by higher education. In 1984, the average male college graduate earned $31,487, while the average female graduate made $20,257-only a few dollars more than the $19,120 earned by male high school dropouts. Even for senior executives, there is a huge discrepancy in earnings. A 1982 national poll showed salaries for top executive women at $92,159, while men averaged $116,000. And at poverty level the inequities are even greater: 90 percent of persons on welfare are women and their dependent children. The poorest group of all are women sixty-five and older who are single, divorced, or widowed. They live on a median income of only $1,900 a year.

But we have progressed. Vivian Castleberry watched andparticipated in that progress during her almost three decadesas a reporter with the Dallas Times Herald. In our first story, shechronicles the history of the women’s movement in Dallas. Next,Texas Woman’s University unveils a two-year study of executivebusinesswomen in Dallas-299 women who made sacrifices forsuccess. We dissect an issue on the minds of many women in 1987,child care. Is it going to be the corporate perk of the Nineties? Willgovernment pick up part of the tab? Who will pay for the children?We also profile four Dallas women who followed their fathersinto business, moving toward the day when Smith & Daughterswill be as common as Smith & Sons. And we offer an inside lookat the Junior League of Dallas, a much-maligned, elite group thatcontinues to have great influence on this city, as it struggles withthe changing times.