Photo by Mark Pynes
Commuter marriage just doesn't cut it for Mary Hartman, journalism professor, who will
leave a promising career to rejoin her husband, Barrie, in Boulder, Colo.
Women juggle job, marriage
By Deborah Janes
Of th* EnwrakJ
Journalism Prof. Mary Hartman has
more than just the right name to play the
lead part in the soap opera "Mary Hartman,
Mary Hartman,” if it ever returns to the tube.
Her current — and dramatic — situation
would make a perfect episode in the defunct
late-night show.
Having climbed to a high rung on her
career ladder, Hartman had to decide last
summer whether to follow her husband to
Florida, where he pursued a new job, or keep
her children in local schools and continue
with her career in Eugene.
After filling a notebook with the pros
and cons, Hartman elected to stay. Gloria
Steinman would be proud of her.
But wait Gloria, there's more.
After spending the year apart from her
husband, Mary has decided to join Barrie, a
former managing editor of the Eugene
Register-Guard, in Boulder, Colo.
"I guess I’m just an old-fashioned girl at
heart. I got tired of saying goodbye in the air
port. That was my $27,000 a year decision
(her income level),” she says.
Hartman has joined the growing forces
of women "sitting on the fence between
yesteryear and today,” who attempt to
balance the equally important roles of wife
and career woman.
And many of thase women are opting
for "commuter marriages” over passively
following their husbands during their career
transitions, according to some sociology
professors.
“It’s a very serious phenomenon among
professional couples,” says Joan Acker, a
University sociology professor and director
of the Center for the Study of Women in
Society. But the commuter marriage trend
hits mainly women in high status, high in
come professions, such as managerial jobs,
lawyers and professors, she says.
“Over 50 percent of successful woman
in the country are single, divorced or have
never married,” Acker says. “On the other
hand, 95 percent of successful men are
married.”
“Women realize now they can survive
without their spouse,” says Mimi Johnson, a
sociology professor and outgoing chairer of
the Women’s Studies Committee.
The Hartmans disagree.
"At times this past year we didn’t think
the marriage would last because of the
stress of being separated,” says Barrie, now
executive editor of the Boulder Daily
Camera. “My decision to leave was not very
popular with the family."
“I still get feelings of doubt and anger,"
Mary says. Her feelings may be due in part to
the intense effort it took to rise to the
prestigious position she holds at the
University.
Until seven years ago, Hartman thought
“my job was at home, raising the kids (ages
16 and 18).” But when a position opened
with Oregon Scholastic Press, she jumped
on it, anxious to utilize her journalism
degree and contribute to the family coffer.
Her dedication to the organization has
helped her become director of OSP, as well
as an assistant to the dean in the journalism
school.
When Hartman travels to the Colorado
Rockies, only a loving husband will await
her, not a job. However, that does not worry
Barrie. "She’s an extremely marketable per
son. She will find a job here that she will en
joy,” Barrie says.
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