A Comment: The Pleasure of Social Reform

Abstract

A Comment: The Pleasure of Social Reform Marjorie Lightman After having carefuUy read the article about Ethel Puffer Howes by C. T. Stephenson, I expect any minute now that a new proposal from Howes wül cross the desk of a program officer at the RockefeUer Foundation . From the beyond, Howes wül propose a new idea on how "fundamental problems can be overcome." Her idea wül incorporate "concrete, practical methods and means by which women can reach a necessary unity of their famüy and other interests." It wül combine "research and experiment , the charting of results, the development of principles and the demonstration of methods." Hers wül be a model project using the talents of researchers and activists in a cross-national and multicultural venue. Surely, mere death has not stüled her passion. I sometimes think that women have an attachment to social reform more passionate and long-standing than many a love affair. And why not? What mortal lover can so consistently promise a world transformed that is always just out of reach and stiU so tantaUzingly real? Yet, passion aside, the reform proposition "that with determination and better scientific methods fundamental problems could be overcome" so neatly marries women to the commitment for a better future that experience and education warn me to look suspiciously on such a perfect union; especiaUy when there are such perfect offspring as, "detiberation, decision, action [and] achievement . ..." I do not wish to demean the efforts that women have made to solve social problems. Quite the contrary. I see very few others who care. Nor do I underestimate the suffering that needs to be addressed and changed. I think, however, that in the cry "Explore, experiment, educate, agitate!" Howes offers an alternative perspective on women's marriage to the future that accounts for the special seductiveness of social reform. Her words capture something of the wonder, the excitement, the promise, and the action of a reforming life. Her words suggest that, fuUy realized, it is a Ufe with times of high adventure. It is a special kind of adventure, not wanted by or possible for most people and not even probable in more than a few special historical moments. In some fanciful way it can be viewed as a life Uved with an ever-elusive, shifting, and magnetic lover. The lover is the set of aU sets, a universe of possibiUties only bounded by the limits of imagination. Experiences gain intensity and the external world a shimmering vividness. The © 1992 Journal of Women's History, Vol. 4 No. 1 (Spring) 1992 COMMENT: MARJORY LlGHTMAN 115 immediate moment is electric with an awareness of future possibiUties that are always fluid in form, shifting in image, and demanding of action. Enjoying the freedom of a commentator on an article that has succeeded in leaving me thoughtful, I would like to sketch some possible connections between Howes's schooling and her later institute. I intend no more than to suggest, albeit in a somewhat fanciful way and from my own experiences over the years, that Ethel Puffer Howes may weU have had a Ufetime love affair with the kind of excitement for which social reform was a perfect match. Drawing on the article, I would Uke more specificaUy to suggest that the excitement of pursuing social change through reform incorporated aspects of risk, chase, and drama somewhat analogous to the risk, chase, and drama Howes experienced in pursuit of a Ph.D. Born privileged, not only by race and class but also with unusual talent and stamina, she sought a demanding education. She chose Smith, with its emphasis on a Uberal arts education; graduate study in Germany where only a few, the most-talented of her generation, went; a thesis in psychology , one of the newest fields at the turn of the century; and a fuU Ph.D. when a bachelor or master's degree was stiU the mark of an unusual woman. Indeed, the description of her education has an eUte and somewhat traditional sound in the 1990s. It is easy to forget what it must have been Uke to withstand the large and smaU pressures of famüy...