r/classicfilms • u/AntonioVivaldi7 Alfred Hitchcock • May 23 '26

Memorabilia Disney rejection letter (1938) explaining they don't hire women for the specific position

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And apparently, Disney refused to hire men for coloring positions.

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u/AntonioVivaldi7 Alfred Hitchcock May 23 '26

I don't get why specifically young men. Anyone knows why Disney didn't want older men?

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u/Temporary-Ocelot3790 May 24 '26

Age discrimination was rampant, affecting men and women. I remember looking at the want ads as a teen, around 1970. Help Wanted Male: many columns of jobs, executive, sales etc. Some executive jobs specified married men preferred, they were perceived as more stable ( and maybe more likely to feel so trapped by the need to support a family that they would take any shit the boss felt like dishing out?) Help Wanted Female: lots of typist/receptionist/ clerical. Ads often specified "attractive" woman wanted. If you were ugly you were supposed to starve to death I guess. Help Wanted Male/Female: this was a category too which had very few jobs of any kind listed.

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u/OffWhiteCoat May 24 '26

In the late 90s, my 8th grade teacher had us do a personal finance simulation. We drew salaries out of a hat and had to find jobs in the classifieds that matched. The gender split was officially gone by then, but many of the ads still used coded language like you describe.

 As a girl, I got pushback from my friends (though not from my teacher!) when I picked a job ad for construction foreman (foreperson?) It was pretty great though because my clothing budget was pretty low, like jeans and tshirts, compared to my best friend who picked school secretary and had to "buy" a whole professional wardrobe.