6 Get a Credit Card

In the 1970s, it was usually mandatory for single and divorced women to bring in a male to co-sign their applications in the bank. It was clear, gender-based discrimination that banks practiced that shows how they wanted to control how women spent their earned money.

When a woman attempted to apply for a credit card back then, she was interrogated with questions like are you married? And do you plan to have children?

Even if a woman was lucky enough to be issued a credit card, it was generally the case that their credit card limits were decreased by a substantial percentage; sometimes up to 50%.

The Equal Credit Act by the Senate in 1974 finally made it illegal for banks to discriminate against someone because of gender, race, religion, or national origin.

Additionally, just a year later in April, the first women’s bank was set up by Judy H. Mello.

The law might have made some considerable progress, but a 2012 report mentions that women still pay more for credit cards. It was a study by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The study also suggests that women pay half a point more interest rate than men do. (source)

7 Playing Soccer

In England during World War I, women’s soccer teams became a public sensation and drew crowds of more than 50,000. However, in 1921, the Football League governing body took the bogus advice of physicians and declared that the game was “unsuitable” for the bodies of women, so they were banned from using the football fields until 1971.

While men were off to the war, women naturally assumed their duties, professionally as well as recreationally. Women’s football teams were already set up in England before World War I, but the sport was largely unrecognized.

The beginning of World War I popularized women’s football, but the Football League couldn’t handle the progress.

War made women work in factories, and friendships made in factories won’t get along without football. In the early phase of the game’s development, women’s football was used as a means to raise money for war charities but slowly the public started appreciating the players for their skills and abilities.

Women’s football was at its peak in 1921 with people in the thousands attending the final battles. But the same year on 5 December, the scenario entirely changed.

Now that the war was over, the FA claimed that the game was unsuitable for women, and all the teams were banned from using official soccer grounds and for holding any sort of matches.

The ban was finally lifted in 1971 by the FA, and female football saw its revival, not just in Britain but in Europe and the entire world. (source)

8 Having Her Own Passport if Married

To get a passport, a woman needed to have it issued jointly with her husband. The idea of such legislation was that it was not acceptable for married women to travel outside the US without their husbands. Married women could carry individual passports officially after 1937.

By the 1800s, single women could be issued a passport in their name, but married women couldn’t even enjoy this individuality. 

There was not much legal government legislation that was against women traveling abroad, but the prejudices rather seeped into the social norms. The process of issuing passports to married women was just the reflection of that.

Practically, it wasn’t difficult for any woman to travel to other countries without a passport since traveling in most of the countries didn’t require one. It was just a legal paper that represented the government’s approval.

The “wife of” her husband system was prevalent until the 1930s. The decision was formally announced in 1937, although unexpectedly, in a memo by longtime Passport Division head Ruth Shipley. (source)

9 Working While Pregnant

Before the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, women could be fired from their work for being pregnant. Laws of some states enabled institutes to not let women work some months before and after the delivery.

In the early 60s, only 44% of all the US pregnant women who had their first child worked at all during pregnancy, and by the 80s, the figure rose to 67% by the onset of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

In the second half of the 20th century, even if the law was enacted to allow women to work while they were pregnant, most of them stopped working more than a month before the birth.

The women who continued to work also in their final month accounted for 35% back then. In the 21st century, the trends have been reversed, and 82% of women worked in their final pregnancy month.

Data for returning to work after pregnancy also shows the same pattern.

It was not just the legislation of September 1978 that didn’t allow pregnancy to create a huge barrier in women’s carrier. It was, in fact, decades-long education and awareness that helped women to increase their working capacity. (1, 2)

10 Wearing Bathing Suits

The local governments in the 1920s patrolled public beaches and applied certain standards on wearing bathing suits. They prohibited women from exposing too much leg. Also, defiant bathers could be legally arrested.

Special “Sheriffettes” were appointed to monitor the attire worn by bathers at Rockaway Beach in New York. Moreover, it was not just New York, and policemen arrested bathers who wore swimsuits underskirts, and sweaters.

In 1921, too, a law was enacted in Hawaii that no one over 14 years of age could go public in swimsuits unless they were suitably covered by an outer garment reaching to at least their knees.

Women had to wear towels around their waist or wear raincoats.

Even in the 1900s, swimming costumes for women were very cumbersome with high necks, long sleeves, skirts, and pants, and were made of wool. Such swimsuits for women were designed to preserve their modesty.

Slowly, the clumsy outfits saw changes, and finally, in the early 1930s, a swimwear storm broke out and women got rid of the uncomfortable suits. The primary struggle was to explain the practical value of personal health and exercise. (source)