10 Things Women Can Do Today That Our Grandmothers Couldn't

Source: John White/ Smith Collection / Getty

We should be celebrating the power and prestigiousness of women every minute of everyday. I mean, they did give birth to us. We all got our name from a woman and our game from a woman.

But for some reason, we wait for commemorated days like Mother’s Day to honor the special ladies in our lives.  Women’s History Month is one of those observed months when we’re supposed to acknowledge all the ways women are great.  Women have always been strong and capable of any and everything — but we weren’t always allowed to show and prove it.

We’re afforded a lot of privileges today that even our grandmothers weren’t allowed to do, and that was only 40-50 years ago.  Hit the flip to see check out all the things we as millenials get to do that our grandmother’s didn’t have the liberty to.

Sue For Sexual Harassment In The Workplace 

Sexual harassment wasn’t recognized by the Supreme Court as a form of sex discrimination until the 1980s.

Marry Each Other 

Same Sex marriage wasn’t legalized in all 50 states until June 2015.

Serve Front Lines In The Military

In December 2015, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter announced that all combat jobs would be open to women. But what why weren’t they allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars and lead infantry soldiers into combat before? According to Discovery News, traditionalist thought that “women will interfere with group bonding and cohesion—the same arguments that long interfered with the integration of African Americans and gay people into the military.”

Couldn’t Get A PhD In Women’s Studies

The first Ph.D. program in Women’s History didn’t come about until 1980. And it wasn’t until 1990 that the first Ph.D program in Women’s Studies emanated at Emory.

Married Women Couldn’t Accuse Their Husband Of Rape

Marital rape didn’t become criminalized in all 50 states until 1993.

Get A Credit Card

Women were not able to apply for credit until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1974. The first women’s bank was opened in 1975.

Weren’t  Covered By Health Insurance During Maternity Leave

Companies had no legal obligation to provide women with maternity leave or to cover her health insurance until the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993.

Be An Astronaut

It wasn’t until 1993 that the Defense Department relaxed the prohibition on women serving in combat aviation positions. EIleen Collins was NASA’s first female shuttle pilot.

Serve On A Jury

Women couldn’t serve on the jury in all 50 states until 1973