Were things in the past really that bad for women? (55, divorce)
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Feminists always talk about how horrible it was for women in the past. Now I am talking say 40s, 50s, 60s or so. I know there is a history forum but I would like to hear some thoughts from women who have first-hand experience. Was it really as bad as feminists say it was for women? Would you say it was Afghanistan/Saudi Arabia bad?
Yes it was bad. You might want to read some books about the women's movement.
Cannot compare to Afghanistan/Saudi Arabia bad because that is a very different culture. Saudi's finally allowed women to drive recently. They have a long way to go over there.
It was terrible. Women stayed home and took care of their children. If they didn't have children they had to prepare meals, play bridge, read, and do all sorts of degrading things. They were treated as second-class people. Men and boys opened doors for them, lit their cigarettes, took off their hats in their presence, and even called them ma'am. Eighty percent didn't know enough to get a divorce and become single mothers.
Women couldn't work and couldn't control their financial lives.
No birth control available and had to produce possibly unwanted children.
Men had the legal right to rape their wives.
Women were expected to be seen and not heard.
Women are still seen as biologically inferior to men.
Women didn't have the right to vote.
The male dominated medical field didn't believe menstrual cramps were real and didn't understand most "female" problems. They thought women were crazy when they complained.
It was acceptable for a man to keep his woman in line by beating her.
The history of women and rape is appalling. Google Recy Taylor.
Women couldn't have their own bank accounts or buy real estate without a man.
Women couldn't work and couldn't control their financial lives.
No birth control available and had to produce possibly unwanted children.
Men had the legal right to rape their wives.
Women were expected to be seen and not heard.
Women are still seen as biologically inferior to men.
Women didn't have the right to vote.
The male dominated medical field didn't believe menstrual cramps were real and didn't understand most "female" problems. They thought women were crazy when they complained.
It was acceptable for a man to keep his woman in line by beating her.
The history of women and rape is appalling. Google Recy Taylor.
Women couldn't have their own bank accounts or buy real estate without a man.
Need more?
This is nonsense.
Women have always worked if they wished. Few wished it, however.
Birth control has been available for over two thousand years.
Women had bank accounts, real estate, and securities. They have owned businesses of their own for centuries.
Women have voted for over a hundred years in all elections and from colonial days in some elections.
Women couldn't work and couldn't control their financial lives.
No birth control available and had to produce possibly unwanted children.
Men had the legal right to rape their wives.
Women were expected to be seen and not heard.
Women are still seen as biologically inferior to men.
Women didn't have the right to vote.
The male dominated medical field didn't believe menstrual cramps were real and didn't understand most "female" problems. They thought women were crazy when they complained.
It was acceptable for a man to keep his woman in line by beating her.
The history of women and rape is appalling. Google Recy Taylor.
Women couldn't have their own bank accounts or buy real estate without a man.
Need more?
I'd go with all of the above with the caveat that the right to vote goes back several decades before the OP's question.
But everything listed is quite enough, don't you think?
No control over your financial/physical/reproductive lives is quite sufficient to say it was bad. And I still thank people who hold the door for me and I hold the door for others.
Women couldn't work and couldn't control their financial lives.
No birth control available and had to produce possibly unwanted children.
Men had the legal right to rape their wives.
Women were expected to be seen and not heard.
Women are still seen as biologically inferior to men.
Women didn't have the right to vote.
The male dominated medical field didn't believe menstrual cramps were real and didn't understand most "female" problems. They thought women were crazy when they complained.
It was acceptable for a man to keep his woman in line by beating her.
The history of women and rape is appalling. Google Recy Taylor.
Women couldn't have their own bank accounts or buy real estate without a man.
Need more?
Now why don't you reread the OP and stick to the 40's, 50's, and 60's.
Now why don't you reread the OP and stick to the 40's, 50's, and 60's.
Most still apply during that time frame. Could most women walk into the average company and get a job besides secretary in 1950? Marital rape wasn't made a crime until the 1970s. Women couldn't get credit cards on their own until the 1970s. We all know the history of birth control and contraception. Domestic violence wasn't criminalized until the 1970s.
Sure, women had the right to vote much earlier, but most women didn't vote because they had very little political power. Of course, women of color couldn't vote.
I'll even add one more. Women couldn't serve on some juries (varied by state). Again, there are a ton more. Google when women were allowed into Ivy league colleges or allowed to attend military academies like West Point.
So what have I represented that wasn't occurring from the 40s through the 60s?
Is it so hard to believe that the lives of women were dramatically different than the lives of men? Have people been brainwashed by Ozzie & Harriet?
Things were worse for everyone in the past. Nobody really wants to think about men dropping dead every 5 minutes, just women having to cook.
The OP started a thread about women. Why don't you start a thread about men and invite comments?
When did men drop dead every 5 minutes?
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