A woman avoids the "good ole boy" network
As Squires remembers a mentor, she recalls how she avoided dealing with the "good ole boy" posture that dominated the tobacco business, choosing hotel rooms that would keep her apart from unaccompanied men.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Jane Squires, September 21, 2002. Interview R-0192. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- WILLIAM MANSFIELD:
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He did react to you when you told him you wanted to be an auctioneer?
- JANE SQUIRES:
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Paige? He was probably one of the few in the tobacco business that did
not try to discourage me. Now there were several but well over 90% tried
to discourage me.
- WILLIAM MANSFIELD:
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It does seem like such a "good ole boys" group and the
stories they tell about people living high, fast and furious, so . . . .
- JANE SQUIRES:
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When I was on the road, especially in Kentucky, I would get as suite in
a different building from everybody else. I usually stayed with the men
who brought their wives, with the couples. For instance, in Georgia, if
we were all in a hotel I'd stay on the opposite floor. So I
could have my privacy and all. But it was never a problem with the
"man-woman thing." In that situation, the problem with
the "man-woman thing" was, "Why in the world
would a woman want to be a tobacco auctioneer to begin with?"
That's what I've had to over come.
- WILLIAM MANSFIELD:
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You've had to explain yourself many times?
- JANE SQUIRES:
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Many times.
