"by the time he or she was starting a career, women were already in the workforce and it was accepted by many as a good thing"
How many women who were working in the 70s and 80s have you talked to about this.
How many women who were working in the 70s and 80s have you talked to about this.
The generations that were most aggressive about pushing women out of the workforce were past peak by 1980 and have all but vanished today. That doesn't mean that there isn't sexism and that there aren't rotten individuals, as in every generation; but my point is that even the people we consider old for full-time work (65-70) are Baby Boomers who came later and who were either very early in their careers or still in school during the bad old days when "woman" meant "secretary".