North Bay Woman

24 NORTH BAY WOMAN S P R I N G | S U M M E R 2 0 2 0 recollections of the 1950s portray them as content with lives of domestic bliss, but beneath the surface, dissatisfaction was growing. The reality was that most women had little control over their lives. They didn't have access to birth control, couldn't get credit and had few career choices, let alone the freedom to pursue their dreams. Even so, some women defied conventions. Vera Schultz, who had served as a member of the Mill Valley City Council and president of the League of Women Voters Marin County, was elected to the Marin County Board of Supervisors in 1952, becoming the coun- ty's first female supervisor, as well as the first in North- ern California. At her first meeting of the North Coast Counties Association of Super- visors, her male counterparts put up a sign saying, "No Women Allowed," but she tore it in two and took her seat any- way. As part of her platform while run- ning for election, she suggested build- ing a civic center to put the county's then-scattered services all under one roof. In 1957, she recommended that famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright design it — and prevailed — despite opposition. She also proposed creating the position of county administrator, establishing a public health department and building Marin General Hospital (now MarinHealth Medical Center). In addition, among a long list of accom- plishments, she worked to establish Marin's first school for disabled children and served on the grand jury. The Second Wave In 1963, Betty Friedan's "The Fem- inine Mystique" was published, dis- Left: Suffrage Leader Elizabeth Thacher Kent, circa 1912. – Photo courtesy Anne T. Kent California Room, Marin County Free Library Above: Women on the picket line on Nov. 10, 1917. Left to right: Catherine Martinette, Eagle Grove, Iowa, Mrs. William Kent, Kentfield, California, Mary Bartlett Dixon, Easton, Maryland, Mrs. C.T. Robertson, Salt Lake City, Utah, Cora Week, New York City, Amy Ju(e)ngling, Buffalo, New York, Ms. Ha. – Photo courtesy of Library of Congress

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