T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History Collection

ABSTRACT

INTERVIEWEE NAME: Evelyn Fike

COLLECTION: 4700.0528

IDENTIFICATION: [1925 - ] Women's Rights Activist

INTERVIEWER: Margaret Parker

PROJECT: Miscellaneous

DATES: 28 September 1995

FOCUS DATES: 1930s - 1995

ABSTRACT:

Family history; impact of Depression on her family; sexual discrimination in her high school in Iowa; lack of college scholarships for girls; determination to attend college; working in clerical positions during World War II; impact of war on her college campus; lack of career opportunities for women in the 1940s; inability to earn promotions; moving to Baton Rouge and getting job with Gulf States Research Institute; goals of Gulf States Research Institute; building the Superdome; difficulty in earning a promotion while working for the research institute and desire to reach executive ranks; describes perks of being an executive; discusses how she got promoted to contracts manager and outlines her duties; Equal Rights Amendment; desire to help other women break into the executive ranks; role in forming the Capital Area Network (an organization for Baton Rouge businesswomen); early work of the Capital Area Network; discusses her the jobs she took after retiring; desire to be a mentor for her female employees; establishing Women of Achievement banquet and selection of the honorees

TAPES: T766

TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 1 hour

PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 33

RESTRICTIONS: None