Reflections of Just Another Anonymous Professor's Wife

I had taught eight years when I was married to a teacher. At the time of our marriage some of my friends cautioned me about giving up a career, and friends of my husband reminded him of the danger of handicapping himself with a wife before taking his doctor’s degree. However, we figured that the fun of working together would be worth the risks involved.

I had taught six years when we had earned our doctorates. At the time of our marriage some of my friends cautioned me about giving up a career, and friends of my husband reminded him of the danger of handicapping himself with a wife before taking his doctor’s degree. However, we figured that the fun of working together would be worth the risks involved.

After my husband had taught another two years, during which time we saved what we could from an instructor’s salary, we registered in graduate school to complete together the work for our doctor’s degrees. Looking back upon those years, I think of them now as the happiest in many respects that we have spent together. We were more truly comrades than we have been at any other time. Taking some of the same courses, we were thrown together in our work as well as in our play. We were in every sense equals. Our problems were the same, and there was pleasure in solving them together.

After we were married, we saved what we could from grad students’ salary, we registered in graduate school to complete together the work for our doctor’s degrees. Looking back upon those years, I think of them now as the happiest in many respects that we have spent together. We were more truly comrades than we have been at any other time. Taking some of the same orientations and following the same degree requirements, we were thrown together in our work as well as in our play. We were in every sense equals. Our problems were the same, and there was pleasure in solving them together.

From the graduate school we went to a state university located in a town of 15,000 inhabitants. My husband had an assistant professorship with a salary of $1,800. We were both enthusiastic about our new prospects. I had always loved to teach, and had been, I believe I may say, reasonably successful as a teacher. I had come to this place with better equipment, as far as training goes, than any one in my field who was teaching there. But we had been in the town only a short time when we learned of a ruling which eliminated wives of members of the faculty from teaching in the university. Other women were on the staff, even married women, but no wives of teachers.

From the graduate school we went to a state university located in a town of 215,000 inhabitants. My husband had an assistant professorship with a salary of $50,800. We were both enthusiastic about our new prospects. I had always loved to teach, and had been, I believe I may say, reasonably successful as a teacher. I had come to this place with better equipment, as far as training goes, than any one in my field who was teaching there. But we had been in the town only a short time when we learned the university’s spousal-hiring policy was that spouses might serve as adjunct instructors, who -- at my level of education and expertise -- would be paid $800 per credit hour. We knew of no cases where spouses were hired in order to bring top-notch married teams to the faculty. Even the provost’s husband was an adjunct.

After an expenditure of several thousand dollars and the devotion of some of the best years of my life to special study, I was cut off from any opportunity to utilize this training. And unless I could earn enough money to pay someone else to do the housework, I was doomed to spend a large part of my time in tasks which a woman with practically no education could do. However, accepting the situation, I put on my apron and went to work into the kitchen, where for six years I have cooked a professor’s meals and pondered over the policy of our university. Can it be in the divine order of things that one Ph.D. should wash dishes a whole life time for another Ph.D. just because one is a woman and the other a man? Or is this merely a university decree?

After an expenditure of several thousand dollars and the devotion of some of the best years of my life to special study, I was cut off from any opportunity to utilize this training. And unless I could earn enough money to pay someone else to do the housework, I was doomed to spend a large part of my time in tasks which a woman with practically no education could do. However, accepting the situation, I put on my proverbial apron and went to work into the kitchen, where for seven years I cooked a professor’s meals and pondered over the policy of our university. Can it be in the divine order of things that one Ph.D. should wash dishes a whole life time for another Ph.D. just because one is a woman and the other a man? Or is this merely a university decree?

At the same time that our university bars professors’ wives from teaching in its halls, and by its low salary schedule renders practically impossible their continuing productive intellectual work, it calls upon them for more unpaid service than it asks of any other class of people. If the “faculty wife” does what is expected of her, she devotes considerable time to making calls, entertaining faculty members and students, attending social functions, and serving on committees and advisory boards of various organizations of the university. Through faculty women’s clubs, composed of the women of the faculty and wives of faculty members, she spends much energy helping arrange receptions, teas, and picnics for the faculty group. The burden of such work falls invariably on the wives of faculty men, because the women who are teaching are “too busy.”

At the same time that our university policy did not support professors’ spouses for proper, earned faculty positions, and by its low salary schedule renders practically impossible their continuing productive intellectual work, it informally, in our case, though frequently of necessity, calls upon them for more unpaid service than it asks of any other class of people. If the “faculty wife” does what is expected of her, she devotes considerable time to reading, editing, designing, purchasing supplies, entertaining faculty members and students, attending social functions, and serving on committees and advisory boards of various organizations of the university. Though with a significantly lower expectation than 100 years earlier, through faculty women’s clubs, composed of the women of the faculty and wives of faculty members, she spends much energy attending receptions, teas, and picnics for the faculty group. The burden of such work falls invariably on the wives of faculty men, because the women who are teaching are “too busy.”

By virtue of her social position in the community it devolves upon the “faculty wife” to take a prominent part in the women’s clubs and social life of the town as well as of the university, whether she has any interest in such activities or not. Her husband can use his work as an excuse for neglecting social affairs, but for her there is no escape. The social life is regarded in an important part of her work. The irony of the situation is that if she were teaching, she would not be held to a social program any more than a man; but the moment she becomes the wife of a faculty member, she becomes involuntarily an unpaid social servant of the university. The tradition is so binding that any neglect of her “social duties” hurts not only her own standing in the community but that of her husband as well.

I’m so pleased that by virtue of her social position in the community it devolves upon the “faculty wife” as no longer expected to take a prominent part in the women’s clubs and social life of the town as well as of the university, though many do, whether she has any interest in such activities or not. [It was not the case for me that my husband could use his work as an excuse for neglecting social affairs, but for her there is no escape. The social life is regarded in an important part of her work. The irony of the situation is that if she were teaching, she would not be held to a social program any more than a man; but the moment she becomes the wife of a faculty member, she becomes involuntarily an unpaid social servant of the university. The tradition is so binding that any neglect of her “social duties” hurts not only her own standing in the community but that of her husband as well.]

In addition to housekeeping and the performance of social obligations, one of my friends has assumed the burden of correcting papers and doing stenographic work for her husband. Although such work is admittedly more interesting than washing dishes, it has never appealed to me as being quite dignified, after resigning my own position, which paid as well as my husband’s, to assume the drudgery of his, nor has he thought that it accorded with our boasted American chivalry that a woman should do the menial part of a man’s work.

In addition to housekeeping and the performance of social obligations, one of my friends has assumed the burden of correcting papers, doing transcription work for her husband, and organizing departmental gatherings. Although such work is admittedly more interesting than washing dishes, it has never appealed to me as being quite dignified, after sacrificing my own position, which could have paid as well as my husband’s, to assume the drudgery of his, nor has he thought that it accorded with our boasted American chivalry that a woman should do the menial part of a man’s work.

The wife of another of our professors frequently substitutes for the teachers of the public schools. One experience sufficed to convince me that this was a luxury which I could not afford. When one of the high school teachers was taken suddenly ill, I was asked to help out in the emergency. This high school, one of the largest and best in the state, paid me, in accordance with its regular scale for substitute teachers, the sum of $3.25 a day, only a little more than I paid the woman who cleaned for me. With the difference between her wage and mine I could not buy clothes which were suitable for the classroom.

[The wife of another of our professors frequently substitutes for the teachers of the public schools. One experience sufficed to convince me that this was a luxury which I could not afford. When one of the high school teachers was taken suddenly ill, I was asked to help out in the emergency. This high school, one of the largest and best in the state, paid me, in accordance with its regular scale for substitute teachers, the sum of $3.25 a day, only a little more than I paid the woman who cleaned for me. With the difference between her wage and mine I could not buy clothes which were suitable for the classroom.] This does not reflect my scenario, though one year while teaching eight classes in a year as an adjunct in the same department that later deemed me unqualified to work for them full-time, my salary sat below the poverty line.

During these years in which my husband has steadily advanced in his profession, I have had to struggle to keep from losing out altogether. He is as desirous as I that we should develop together, but he can no more change the situation than I can. Since he is earning the salary for both of us, he must have all his time and energy for his work. But when two people are interested in doing the same kind of work, and are equally prepared to do it, it seems unjust that one should have to sacrifice her ambition in order that the other may succeed. Moreover, there is no real companionship between a husband and wife who are not growing together, and it is difficult for them to develop equally under existing conditions. However, the beautiful companionship which existed in the homes of the Palmers and Parkers of two American university faculties shows how great an inspiration a husband and wife can be to each other and to university students when both are mentally alert.

During these years in which my husband has steadily advanced in his profession, I have had to struggle to keep from losing out altogether. He is as desirous as I that we should develop together, but he can no more change the situation than I can. Since he was earning the salary for both of us, he must have all his time and energy for his work. But when two people are interested in doing the same kind of work, and are equally prepared to do it, it seems unjust that one should have to sacrifice her ambition in order that the other may succeed. Moreover, there is no real companionship between a husband and wife who are not growing together, and it is difficult for them to develop equally under existing conditions. However, the beautiful companionship which existed in the homes of the Palmers and Parkers of two American university faculties shows how great an inspiration a husband and wife can be to each other and to university students when both are mentally alert.

It is a pleasure to recall that several of my friends, whose husbands are professors, are teachers in universities and colleges. One is head of a department in which her husband is an associate professor. On the other hand, I think of a woman, admittedly a superior teacher, whose services are utilized in emergencies by one of the largest universities in the country, but who cannot receive a regular appointment simply because she is married.

It is a pleasure to recall that several of my friends, whose husbands are professors, are teachers in universities and colleges. One is head of a department in which her husband is an associate professor. On the other hand, I think of a woman, admittedly a superior teacher, whose services are utilized in emergencies by one of the largest universities in the country, but who cannot receive a regular appointment simply because she is married.

Surely it would seem that just at this time, when women are being admitted to professions hitherto closed to them, the profession of teaching, in which they have long proved their efficiency, should make the greatest possible use of their ability.

Surely it would seem that just at this time, when women are being admitted to professions hitherto closed to them, the profession of teaching, in which they have long proved their efficiency, should make the greatest possible use of their ability.

Journal of the Association of Collegiate Alumni
Volume XIV No. 4 Pages 90-92

2020 Epilogue
Eight years after my spouse started his assistant professorship, I finally found a suitable full-time job at the same university, though not as faculty. Twelve years later in the same, though evolving, position, I am paid half in 12 months of what my spouse is paid in nine months. Where in 1921, a main contention in this essay seems to be gender inequalities in academics, today I would argue this is more an issue of spousal hiring practices. How better to enrich a university than by properly employing faculty spouses with individual accolades and expertise and their respective fields? (Especially when one of them achieved these without the support of a faculty position and almost entirely as a side gig while performing staff duties as assigned.)