Categories: Stories

20 Ordinary Things Women Couldn’t Do In The ’50s And ’60s

9. Run in the Boston Marathon.

Pinterest

In 1967, Katherine Switzer became the first woman to complete the race. Women were not officially allowed to run the marathon until 1972.

10. Refuse to have sex with your husband.

Skirt Collective

Until the 1970s, marital rape wasn’t illegal. Rape was defined in all US states as follows: “a male who has sexual intercourse with a female, not his wife is guilty of rape if…”

11. Take time off to have a baby.

Working Lives

If a woman happened to have a job, she would lose it if she wanted to take any maternity leave before the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978.

12. Get divorced easily.

Offbeat.com

Before the 1969 No Fault Divorce law, divorce could only be obtained if you proved your spouse had committed serious faults such as adultery. This law negatively impacted men as well as women, of course.

For more things that women couldn’t do back in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Click “Next.”

Previous 3 of 5 Next

Show comments
Share
Published by

Recent Posts

‘The Little Rascals’: How ‘Our Gang’ Came to Be and Why Those Kids Should Never Be Forgotten

When it comes to The Little Rascals, Leonard Maltin — along with Richard W. Bann —…

4 years ago

Harrison Ford Officially Leading Fifth ‘Indiana Jones’ Film

Disney announced a fifth Indiana Jones movie due out in July 2022. Harrison Ford is…

4 years ago

Classic TV Debut, December 16: ‘One Day at a Time,’ from ‘All in the Family Creator’ Norman Lear

By the time the original One Day at a Time premiered on December 16, 1975,…

4 years ago

Classic TV Debut, December 16: Jack Webb’s ‘Dragnet,’ One of the First Police Procedurals

If you were try and figure out what the first TV ancestor of Law &…

4 years ago

How The ‘Rat Pack’ Was Destroyed By The Kennedys

Richard A. Lertzman, co-author of the new book Deconstructing the Rat Pack delves into the…

4 years ago

‘Little House On The Prairie’: Melissa Sue Anderson Dated This Famous Older Man

Melissa Sue Anderson played Mary Ingalls on the series Little House on the Prairie. The…

4 years ago