Women who are old enough to receive The Extension have lived during an enormous expansion of women’s rights and opportunities. We were born into a world where most women were homemakers and mothers. Young working women were often expected to retire when they got married. In the 1960s it was next to impossible for a woman to get credit in her own name if she happened to be married, even if she held a good paying job. Women made up a significant proportion of college students, though the old saw was that the degree they were seeking was an MRS.
Birth control was widely available, but in the event of failure, abortion did not become legal until Roe v Wade was decided on January 22, 1973. In a shocking turn of events, Roe was overturned on June 24, 2022, upending abortion’s availability in a depressing number of states, including Ohio.
Nevertheless, women have continued to expand their role in society. A record number were elected to serve in the current Congress and 60 percent of college students were women at the end of the 2021-22 academic year. Women are 50.7 percent of the college educated labor force.
Not everyone is happy about the progress women have made. Far right factions advocate for traditional family roles. Some cross the line into misogyny, which is defined by Wikipedia “as a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy.”
Ohio is one of 17 states that has never elected a female senator. Nor has Ohio ever elected a woman as governor. Former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley was the most recently defeated. Perhaps in the near future Americans will accept the idea that a women’s place is wherever she wants to be.
