"Boys are policemen; girls are metermaids."

Came across this little gem in my web travels last week, "I'm glad I'm a boy! I'm glad I'm a girl!" by Whitney Darrow, a children's book that explains gender roles with comparisons like "Boys are doctors. Girls are nurses," and "Boys can eat. Girls can cook."As of this writing there is one going for as high as $340.76 on Amazon. Kind of surprising that this was published in in 1970; I thought I grew up in a more enlightened era than this. It was, after all, the year that also debuted spunky single serial-dating career girl Mary Richards in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," the publication of Kate Millet's influential feminist work "Sexual Politics," and the all-girl rock stars Josie and the Pussycats. Come to think of it, it was also a year when Dean Martin's entrouage of women was called "The Golddiggers" (guess what I wanted to be when I grew up). So we did get more self-determined in some ways and stayed plenty ditzified in others. Go ahead and say it. Some things never change.

One comparison in the book still stands: "Boys are presidents; girls are first ladies." The fact that that one came closer than ever to changing recently is actually a really big deal. It's no longer a surprise to see women at the highest professional levels, which it was in 1970. In the 70's women were secretaries. Now one's a Secretary of State. We still have a long way to go - but it's easier knowing we've come so far.