With the election coming up in November, the world may see the first female President of the United States. Beyoncé and Solange are the first set of sisters to have number one albums. Claressa Shields was the first American boxer, female or male, to win gold medals in back to back Olympic Games. I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say 2016 is the year of the girl. Well, while riding on the bus the other night, I heard a segment on “Things Women Couldn’t Do Until Recently”. What I heard was quite interesting, and it got me to do some digging. Some of the things I found were ridiculous and infuriating. Here are seven things women could not do, and in some cases, still cannot do, until recently.
1. Riding in Trains
Ok, so no one really rides trains anymore, but I thought the reason why women were not allowed to ride trains at first was interesting. Some “experts” believed women’s bodies could not handle traveling at fifty miles per hour. They thought that women’s uteruses would fly out of their body. Needless to say these so called “experts” were totally wrong, however it was not until the early 1900s when trains were deemed safe for women to travel in.
2. Running Marathons
For many years the American Athletic Union (AAU), who presides over track and field in the U.S., banned women from running in races. They even went as far as to create fake scientific research, which stated that running for long distances caused infertility in women. By the 1970s, the AAU finally gave in and gave “certain women” permission to run in races.
3. Getting a credit card
What would I do without my credit card? It’s how I pay for pretty much everything. However, before the 1970s, only married women and men could get credit cards. Even then, married women had to get their husbands to co-sign the application for a credit card.
4. Join the Ivy Leagues
Education plays a major role in getting a job, and bettering yourself. It was not until the late 1960s and 1970s that the country’s top schools allowed women. Princeton and Yale did not admit women undergraduate students until 1969, and Harvard didn’t admit women until 1977. Women were allowed to enroll at Clemson in 1955.
5. Keep her job if she was pregnant/have paid maternity leave
Women have always had a hard time choosing between a family and a career. Before the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, that decision was way harder. Before the Act was passed, jobs could fire their female employees if they were pregnant. Also, as of 2015, the United States was the only developed country that did not offer paid maternity leave.
6. Live With her boyfriend
I know a lot of people, like Kourtney and Scott, who live together and are not married. However, I am pretty sure that they do not realize that it is illegal. Even though this law will probably not stand up in court, it is still in the books in a few states, including South Carolina. In 2011, a few Florida couples were charged with misdemeanors for living together while not being married.
7. Serve in combat roles
Women were first allowed to serve as nurses and support staff in the last two years of World War I (1917-1918). In 1976, women were admitted into U.S. military academies. However, it was not until 2013 that women were allowed to serve active roles in combat.