Cherchez Les Femmes! On Olympic Women's Hockey

Most of the girls on the bench could be my daughter. They are fearless: checking, scoring and stickhandling with aplomb. How I wish I could be one of them! 37 or so years ago I wanted to play hockey. Figure skating was too girlie and cute for me. Each time I asked, the parental powers laughed at me and said, "Girls don't play hockey! Don't be stupid."

Why the hell not? I thought. Girls rule. Girls can do anything. My parents, misogynists both, thought something was wrong with me. I was told the same thing when I wanted to play the trumpet. They retorted, "Girls don't play the trumpet. Why don't you play the flute like Julie? That's a nice instrument for a girl." BLECH.

Now I am vindicated: Girls play hockey on the world stage at an Olympic level. Women trumpeters play in symphony orchestras and professional bands all around the world. Women are senators, CEO's, and sergeants who refuse to let the glass ceiling hold them back. I revel in their achievements and praise their efforts, but still, a twinge of envy remains.

It was my generation that paved the way for this team. We kept saying NO! when told women can't do "men's work." We took the ridicule and derisive laughter from the ignorant and prejudiced teachers and parents, accepted being ostracized by our peers and suffered through many dateless Saturday nights. We knew it was worth it, and that we were correct in our convictions, and we stood strong. Yet, as I approach 50, I feel time running out. I want, at least, a taste, a nibble of what these Olympians have. Women have made such great inroads, as evidenced by these ladies on Vancouver ice. Yet there is still so much to do. My life's duty is tiring.

In Illinois, women make 72 cents for every dollar a man makes; elsewhere in the world the difference is far greater. What must men, and most women in places like Saudi Arabia, think of this show on ice? Abomination, sin, and sacrilege come to mind. Women's liberation/rights go hand in hand with religious differences as the bases for Arab contempt of America and the West. It is such a sad, wide divide.

If China, the land of foot binding and female servitude, can change to the point where they field an Olympic caliber women's hockey team, the rest of the world can as well. A couple of players on Team China have pink tape on their sticks! How's that for an integration of strong + feminine.

My talents lie in the boardroom, not the locker room. To be honest, I've never been a jock; God just didn't make me that way. But a girl can dream, can't she? Dream of living in a world where a woman doesn't have to choose between being pretty and being smart, where she never has to dumb herself down in order to get a date. Men, most especially here in the God-forsaken Midwest, are unremarkable and unevolved. (Far too many women are as well...) It frustrates and angers me, because after all this time, why don't they get it?

These Olympians have ponytails dangling out the back of their helmets, and long hair flying flying behind them. These are true women! Not women pretending to be men. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, we (the working women of the professional set) wore suits, oxford shirts and floppy ties to make us look like feminized men; in order to play their game we had to look like them. It wasn't until the 1990's "Working Girl" mantra of, "I have a mind for business and bod for sin" could be spoken. These cold athletic combatants have never known a world without Title IX; I just missed it. In my day, women were rare members of graduate schools, especially medicine and religion. Today, women outnumber men in both.

What I wouldn't give to skate a while in their boots! To experience life with fewer restrictions and expectations based on my reproductive organs; to play a "man's game" while wearing diamond studs or pearls in my ears, as these lovely ladies do, would be a great, big, loud raspberry at the people in my life who said I couldn't or shouldn't because I was a girl.

To be correct, I'd bet big money that not one player or coach in this game calls hockey a "Man's game." My generation fought (fights) hard to rid the world of these stereotypes. This is a lady's game. They wear jewelry under their helmets and faceshields, and revel in their sexuality and athletic prowess. They amaze me, and fill my heart with pride for not only being a woman, but an American woman. We have come a long way, baby.

The rest of the journey to equality will come easier than the achievements behind us. Each generation takes the task and marches it forward. The most difficult leg was in my grandmother's day, when women were disenfranchised and forced to attend "finishing schools" where their education was an afterthought. Truly, it is equal access to higher education that is the quintessential liberator.

So that is where I now take my fight, to help young women get the knowledge they need to carry the torch once I, and my sisters, no longer can.