10 Surprising Things Women Weren’t Allowed to Do in the Past

Last Updated on November 10, 2020

Many things that are completely normal for women today were actually an impossible dream 10 decades ago. This is both saddening and relieving because women have always been suffering in the most unreasonable ways throughout history, yet, today, we’ve come a long way in changing women’s ordinary life all over the world. Not more than 100 years ago, women had to fight for basic rights just because they were born females while men enjoyed all the freedom and privileges a society could offer. Women weren’t even allowed to enter certain places or do certain things on their own. They had to deal with constant sexism and discrimination, eventually leading to the birth of women’s rights movements to fight back and continue fighting until we got where we are today. And there’s still a long way to go, especially for women in developing countries. But to understand women’s history a little bit better, let’s take a look at these 10 ordinary things women were prohibited from doing 10 decades ago to see just how far we’ve come. Click on NEXT to read on.

10. Shopping alone

Today, it’s beyond normal to see women shopping, whether alone or not. But, back about ten decades in time, all ladies were supposed to never leave the house unless accompanied by a man, particularly when shopping. In fact, not only women’s clothes shops but women were also banned from entering many other places alone. This discriminative rule was apparently implanted to keep women safe, requiring every woman to have a man who can take her shopping and make it possible for her to step outside the house.

9. Wearing pants

When looking at women’s pictures from the past, it’s easy to notice that all women were wearing dresses or skirts. Although they certainly looked very charming and incredibly pretty, there was the hidden fact that dresses and skirts were their only options at the time. Women weren’t allowed to wear pants because it wasn’t socially acceptable, and in some places, pants were even illegal since a woman wearing pants represented the image of either rebellion or masculinity. And of course, women were expected to be obedient and feminine. Now, it’s even hard to imagine how entire societies agreed on such unreasonable limitations.