It is a common belief that each generation earns one more degree than their predecessors. However, women in developing nations are often denied opportunities for education. A lack of education often means limitation on opportunities for women worldwide. Education has played an essential role in the lives of the Martin women. With each generation, the level of education has improved, resulting in more economic independence.
My grandmother Jean Murphy was born at the end of the Roaring Twenties, just before the Stock Market Crash that left the country reeling for stability. Despite the economic depression settling in the nation with the thirties, Jean’s life was almost completely unaffected from financial burdens. Her father, Leo, was Chief Electrician…
My mother was a child in the sixties and a teenager in the seventies. During this time, educational opportunities for women expanded, as well as female participation in sports, politics, and business. My mother decided to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher at Bridgewater State College. She says, “For me, it was never a question of going to college. It was an expectation.” She received an undergraduate degree in secondary education and English and a master’s degree in high school educational administration. For my mother, teaching was about empowering other girls to pursue their desired careers. She wanted to be a positive female role model for her students. Teaching has also given my mother opportunities to travel. She taught overseas in Greece at the American Community School and now regularly takes her classes on trips to Europe on school vacations. Recently, she has taken students to Italy, France, Germany, England, and Greece. Today, she teaches at Hopkinton High School. In contrast to her mother, Marie is a single mother with one child. Education allows woe to be more financially independent. A generation prior to my mother’s, women simply could not afford to be single parents. As a clear example of how the times and expectations have changed, Marie states, “I wanted a daughter who could be a strong woman, for whom higher education wasn’t even a…
