"Well, the girls who had careers generally turned out to be spinsters. It was true. Girls were not expected to have careers once they married. They should have children. And I suppose that was so dinned into us, that you had to make your choice."
UNC Class of 1898 - NC Collection
During the first half of the twentieth century, women’s options for taking a job were very limited, and the idea of a woman entering higher education or a professional career was considered quite radical. The accepted path for an educated young woman was to work as a teacher (or later, perhaps as a secretary, nurse, librarian, or office assistant) until she married. Once she was married, she was expected to leave the workforce and focus on her duties to her family and home life.
Such expectations set up a fairly narrow path for a woman to follow. If she married, it was no longer 'normal' for her to remain in the workforce or continue her education. If she pursued a career, she risked sacrificing the relative economic and social security of marriage. Many women appear to have been content to follow the traditional path. Working as a teacher or in some other job for some amount of time after women’s college allowed a young woman to use her education to support herself with some degree of independence before becoming a wife.
However, many women had desires, interests, and ambitions that fell outside the realm of the traditional path. These women took advantage of opportunities, their own abilities, and support from friends and family to break the traditional mold for educated young Southern women and assert themselves in academia and in professional careers.
