Women running the Boston Marathon were not recognized as completing it until 1972.
Abortion was illegal until 1973, and it has gone back to being quasi-illegal.
Women here didn't have the right to open a line of credit until 1974.
Until 1978, a woman could be fired for being pregnant.
Until 1980, you could be fired from your job for complaining about sexual harassment.
Marital rape was not criminalized until 1993.
In 1994, women were banned from serving in armed combat in the military. It was finally lifted in 2013.
Women were not allowed to breastfeed in public until 1999.
Women are generally not allowed, or severely frowned upon, joining male-dominated sports such as football.
Women are not allowed to show their nipples in public, except in a few states in a few designated places, and never on social media (well, except maybe Tumblr).
In many states, getting an abortion (read: having full control over your own body and the things that come out of it) is illegal, or so completely difficult as to make it impossible.
When it is legal, women may be forced to undergo a very painful procedure that has been compared to rape, for no medical reason whatsoever.
When it is quasi-legal, you might still not be able to get one, even if your own life is at risk by not getting one.
Or it may only be illegal to have the abortion if the fetus is intact. You may instead have the fetus cut up into little pieces inside you, and then removed, which would not be illegal. (Yes, this is a real federal law)
Since the 2010 midterm elections, over 240 restrictions on abortion have been adopted, mostly at the state level. There are charts to help understand what you can and cannot do with your body depending on the state and county you live in (because most states have over 50% of their counties with no facility to perform abortion, and 28 states have over 90% of their counties with no facilities to perform abortion).
If you can get one, you can afford it, and there is access to a facility, you may need a waiting period, a mandatory unnecessary vaginal ultrasound, counseling, at least one parent informed, and parental consent (even if your parent raped you).
Oh, and women still make 79 cents on the dollar to what men make. A 2015 World Economic Forum report predicted that global gender parity, or the economic and social equality of the sexes, would not arrive for 177 years. This time last year, the Institute for Women’s Policy made a similar assertion, arguing that American men would significantly out-earn American women until 2058.
I could go on, and on, and on, and on. Women are oppressed in this country, by men and the 'moral conservatives' who wish to continue dominating women. It is a patriarchal society because women are treated as second class citizens, and our laws and "free market" reflect that many, many times over.
