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DKG Practice/Program

Her creative ways to make life easier for women
in their traditional roles have traveled through the
decades. The triangle design of kitchen appliances
for efficient movement? Lillian. The foot pedal on
the garbage can to keep one’s hands free? Lillian.
She also designed refrigerator door shelves and
invented the electric mixer.
Furthermore, although the world at that time
only credited male innovators, Lillian’s husband
supported his wife’s intellectual strengths. He
respected and valued the path that she was blazing,
not only for the lives of women but for the lives
of men as well. Times were changing and Lillian’s
motivation changed with them.
Generational slogans cast historical markers
for decades. In 1942, Lillian prepared as the
nation went to World War II. Her picture often Karen Fisher (right) and Barb Tantala (left) of
aligned with the picture of Rosie the Riveter and Alpha Nu Chapter, PA.
the slogan “We Can Do It!” She studied employee fatigue in the workplace and redesigned production
areas to reduce worker movement. The restructure of the physical space curtailed employee fatigue and
increased productivity. Ultimately, Lillian co-authored Normal Lives for the Disabled (Yost & Gilbreth,
1944) as she continued to support disabled GIs coming home from war.
Lillian Gilbreth was a woman who ignited a fire that has burned within decades of talented women.
Mattel’s Barbie™ slogan in the 80s, “We Girls Can Do Anything,” gave tangible proof that girls no longer
had limited choices in their future; the only limits were their imaginations. Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song”
sung at the 2016 Democratic National Convention gave a nod to the past as the world gave testimony to
the first woman to “break the glass ceiling” and accept the nomination as a presidential candidate in the
United States of America.
In Dr. Gilbreth’s later years, she said that she was gratified that her work had given hundreds of
millions of people more “happiness minutes” and people with disabilities more independence in their
lives. She was a daughter, a wife, and a mother of 12 who changed the world with simple, efficient
inventions. Lillian, as many multi-tasking women of today, had tremendous support running her own
well-organized household. She raised children who embodied their “efficient” upbringing. Her husband
and daughter authored the book Cheaper by the Dozen (Gilbreth & Carey, 1948), a story about the reality
of living in a 14-member family.
Generations are built on the foundation of the past. We stand on the shoulders of trailblazers. People
like Lillian Gilbreth and Royce Boyd do not ask “why” they should put time and energy into challenges.
They simply “get to work” on what must be done. Glass ceilings continue to break, and women have seats
at “business tables” all over the world. “Let’s Hear It for The Girl” … “We Can Do Anything.”

Assunta Deliman, MEd, is a retired reading specialist, English teacher, and adjunct professor at Rider University. She is communications
director for Alpha Nu Chapter in Pennsylvania State Organization. adeliman3@gmail.com

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