Recently, I read a post from a young woman who proclaimed that she wished we would go back to the “good old days” when men were the head of the house and earned the money and women were homemakers. She proceeded to say how much she would enjoy sleeping in and watching tv while her “man” made the money. I was horrified to read her comments. This is, apparently, someone who is uneducated in women’s suffrage history and certainly doesn’t respect the hardships endured by women who fought so hard for our rights as citizens. And she certainly doesn’t know what a homemaker really does during her day.
So, for the record, let’s see what the “good old days” truly looked like.
- Women were considered “property” of their husbands. That meant the man of the house controlled every aspect of her life. He controlled all the money. He could tell her how to dress and what she could and couldn’t do. He could beat her or rape her and it was all within his rights as head of the household.
- Women were considered simple-minded and unable to handle any important responsibilities. This meant we weren’t “allowed” to hold jobs such as doctors, lawyers, police or firefighters. The only jobs available for women who did work were nurses, secretaries or teachers.
- Higher education for women was forbidden until the first college for women in 1837.
- Divorce was rare, but was usually blamed on the woman for failing in her responsibilities as a wife. It didn’t matter if the man had an affair or gambled away all their money, it was still her fault. And in a divorce, there was no equal distribution of property. The man took it all.
- Women who had sex outside of marriage were considered “loose” and equivalent to prostitution. But, of course, men who did the same were “good old boys”.
- For any woman who did work outside the home, sexual harassment was a serious issue. Civil Right Act of 1964 was passed to prohibit this behavior, but it is still prevalent today.
- Women were not allowed to own property. It wasn’t until the late 1800’s/early 1900’s that the laws started to change, allowing women to own property. But even with the right to own property, there were still issues with the male of the household controlling that property.
- Women didn’t have the right to vote until the 19th amendment in 1920. Even with this amendment, women of color were discriminated against until 1965 with the passing of the Voting Rights Act.
- Women were discriminated against when applying for credit. They were required to have a man co-sign for any loan until 1970 with the Credit Opportunity Act.
- Women were not allowed to have a credit card in their name until 1974.
All these things happened so long ago that it’s easy to forget how many women marched and demanded change for all of us. We shouldn’t forget the hell they had to go through to get these rights that we enjoy without thought. And we should always be mindful that in today’s political circus, there are men trying to take away our rights once again.
Don’t be complacent about your freedom and civil rights. There are many wonderful men in this world who respect and support our equal rights as citizens. But there are those who scheme to take everything away and put us back into servitude. Beware. The wolves are at the door.