[Retro Board Game] The Exciting Game of Career Girls
Posted on August 17, 2005 at 11:53 am | 4 Comments
On a recent visit to an old friend’s childhood home, my wife discovered a piece of board-gaming history, and I’m compelled to share it. Its mere existence fascinates the hell out of me…
It’s called “What Shall I Be?“, and I imagine that when the Bay Shore, NY-based Selchow & Righter Company sent it to toy store shelves in 1966 that they saw it as a progressive step. “Let’s get our little American girls ready for the wide-open working world!”.
Looking at it now, nearly 40 years removed, it’s mostly laughable, and/or more than a little sad, depending on how far you think workplace gender equality has come since the mid-sixties.
(click to enlarge)
Your goal? Be the first player to become a ‘Career Girl’ in your chosen field by collecting School Cards, Subject Cards, and Personality Cards that can either help or hinder you. The laughs start when you see what six future careers are available for young girls to choose from…
Yup, that’s it. Teacher (College), Actress (Drama School), Nurse (Nursing School), Model (Charm School), Ballet Dancer (Ballet School), or Airline Hostess (Airline School).
Next, some of the wide-ranging subjects you’ll tackle along the way…
How about some of the admirable qualities you’ll need to have in order to succeed in your chosen field?…
And lastly, the best part. Check out the detriments that would help toughen up our future female workforce for any eventual disappointments…
So how many young minds do you think this little game helped shape?
It appears there was a boy’s version as well, for future Statesmen, Scientists, Athletes, Doctors, Engineers, and Astronauts. Sorry, no teaching for you, young men. And girls, don’t even think about medical school or joining the track team. There are rules to every game, right?
update 8/26: nerdgirl has some updated career cards, more suited to our modern age.
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4 Responses to “[Retro Board Game] The Exciting Game of Career Girls”
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March 8th, 2011 @ 1:02 pm
Aw nuts — image file links are broken
March 8th, 2011 @ 3:32 pm
Images look OK to me… maybe it was just a temporary glitch?
July 29th, 2014 @ 6:24 am
Not seeing any images either. http://www.bradleysalmanac.com/pictures/wsib/directions-sm.jpg gives me “The page you are looking for is missing. Return to Bradley’s Almanac.”
August 1st, 2014 @ 4:29 pm
Fixed the images, which haven’t worked since I moved to WordPress. Thanks for the heads up.