Dream City: The First Female Rouse Employee to Wear Pants to Work

When the new city of Columbia turned five in June 1972, it was the flagship project of its developer, the Rouse Company, where I worked in marketing.

Birthday festivities included a “Ball in the Mall” and Jim Rouse cutting the ribbon on homebuilder Ryland Group’s fifth “birthday house.”

The three-bedroom contemporary rancher was unveiled the day after the dancing gala, which my husband and I attended. So, swept up in all the weekend fun and excitement, we toured the special model and quickly decided to buy one--for $38,140 on a wooded lot in Long Reach Village.

Turns out we were the first couple to purchase the anniversary house, so the builder took publicity photos, which I recently discovered in old files.

Suddenly, I have a Columbia flashback because in the picture, I’m wearing my “infamous” bell bottom pants and matching vest.

It was the same outfit for the day I became the first woman to wear pants at The Rouse Co.

It was rare at the time for women with office jobs to wear slacks. (Fashion jeans weren’t on the scene yet). My wardrobe had a mix of skirts, dresses and pants outfits that seemed appropriate business attire in my mind.  

So with some angst (and no repercussions), I wore the silk blend outfit and never looked back.

The company didn’t ban pants for women per se, it was simply a matter of unspoken corporate protocol that male employees dressed in slacks and suits, but not women.

Such thinking stunned me for the otherwise progressive-thinking Columbia developer.

Plus, this was the summer of 1972, the same time feminist Gloria Steinem co-founded Ms Magazine, and its stories about equal rights for women and minorities and other lively topics of female liberation struck a chord with plenty of women, including me.

We didn’t want to be defined by marital status--and began using the title Ms. instead of Miss or Mrs. We put our kids in day care and pursued careers across a wide spectrum.

When Columbia opened, “women were presumed to be home,” Pat Kennedy, now retired but who became the first president of the Columbia Association in 1972, told me. And that’s why cluster mailboxes and cooperative preschools were launched. “But a big revolution took place and women went to work.”

That included me. . .wearing pants.

About this series: Associate Local Editor Lisa Rossi, with the help of Columbia Archives Manager Barbara Kellner, is publishing a series of short posts about how early ideas about Columbia’s past can spur conversations today about its future. Guest writer Cindy Stacy is semi–retired with her husband on a western Maryland Christmas tree farm, where she is also a freelance journalist. Do you have a historical aspect of Columbia you think should be explored? E-mail Lisa at lisa.rossi@patch.com

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