sixties-style sex segregation

the deets and boardgamegeek recently made mention of a game i must've played in a friend's wood-paneled basement.

the object in both of these 1960s-era games is to achieve one's career while your friends are still floundering around trying to find themselves. to do so, one must collect the appropriate combination of school cards, subject cards, and personality cards.

here are the profession - school combinations for boys:


Law School - Statesman
Graduate School - Scientist
College - Athlete
Medical School - Doctor
Technical School - Engineer
Flight School - Astronaut


and, for girls

College - Teacher
Airline Training School - Airline Hostess
Drama School - Actress
Nursing School - Nurse
Charm School - Model
Ballet School - Ballet Dancer


as i recall, i really wanted to be a scientist or statesman, but the neighbor kid became a famous athlete before i could collect the right cards.

by contemporary standards, of course, the notion of separate career games for boys and girls seems both silly and offensive. by my count, women make up about 47 percent of u.s. law school students, 49 percent of medical school students, 57 percent of college students, 59 percent of graduate students, and 22 percent of engineering students. there's no recent gender equity report for the nation's charm schools, but i'm guessing that they've also become more diverse with regard to gender.