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I had a paper route when I was around 12 in the late 60's and I'm a female. It was an afternoon route after school and a morning route on the weekends. I had to go door to door and collect the money as well.
I didn't ride a bike for my route, I hauled the papers on a wagon. I remember hating rolling the papers. My brother had a route as well but decided that he didn't want to do it, so I got stuck doing his route for a while. That was a bit much.
I also baby sat on Saturday nights. For a young kid I had a lot of money.
Back when Paperboys were still a thing why was it far more common to see boys doing it than girls? Seems like a girl could stand giving out papers or riding a bike delivering them as well as a boy could.
I I had a paper rout when I was a kid. I had to get up at 5am and deliver 2 large bags of papers on my BMX bike. I lived in an area that didn't snow, but we got a ton of rain. I was actually a pretty hard job for a jr high aged kid.
I'm sure there were girls that were capable of this job, but not too many. The chances of a girl quitting mid rout or just saying ef it one day would be considerably higher IMO. That's probably why the typically only hired boys for this job back then.
Now days, I see adults doing this job with a car. I haven't seen a kid on a bike doing it in years.
Back when Paperboys were still a thing why was it far more common to see boys doing it than girls? Seems like a girl could stand giving out papers or riding a bike delivering them as well as a boy could.
I was a paperboy in the late Forties and earliest years of the Fifties in western NY state. My particular paper route was in a town with lots of bad winter weather, and my route was a long one and included part of the countryside...in the winter it took hours in the dark, often having to walk because sidewalks weren't shovel, streets weren't plowed and it was snowing and blowing like crazy. Those days were very physically difficult and it was done in the dark, so I suspect that no girl's parents would have ever allowed it just on that basis.
But, in any case, I never, never heard of a young girl having a paper route.
I I had a paper rout when I was a kid. I had to get up at 5am and deliver 2 large bags of papers on my BMX bike. I lived in an area that didn't snow, but we got a ton of rain. I was actually a pretty hard job for a jr high aged kid.
I'm sure there were girls that were capable of this job, but not too many. The chances of a girl quitting mid rout or just saying ef it one day would be considerably higher IMO. That's probably why the typically only hired boys for this job back then.
Now days, I see adults doing this job with a car. I haven't seen a kid on a bike doing it in years.
How can any kid today be out without their parents being arrested,?
Back when Paperboys were still a thing why was it far more common to see boys doing it than girls? Seems like a girl could stand giving out papers or riding a bike delivering them as well as a boy could.
Same reason girls are babysitters and boys aren't (except for the exceptions). Also for the same reason I went out exploring on my bike while my sisters only went exploring if they went with me.
Boys want(ed) to have paper routes and girls want to babysit. Easy, entry-level jobs for kids according to their interests.
I had a paper route when I was around 12 in the late 60's and I'm a female. It was an afternoon route after school and a morning route on the weekends. I had to go door to door and collect the money as well.
I had a paper route when I was around 12 in the late 60's and I'm a female. It was an afternoon route after school and a morning route on the weekends. I had to go door to door and collect the money as well.... For a young kid I had a lot of money.
I hated the collecting money part, it slowed me down, or else I collected in the morning and then went out and delivered at night.
Yes! about the money. Aside from the money I got from the paper publisher, I got a lot of tips. I was pretty flush with cash for someone in jr. high.
Parents worried more about their girls. Too many perverts out there.
I never heard that kind of talk in the Fifties in my town.
The one worry that parents of girls had was when an older boy, especially one already out of high school started taking an interest in their daughter. That was taboo, and if the girl wanted to see the guy she had to sneak around, which was rather difficult in a small town environment.
Because societies then believed in gender roles and physical labor was the male role
This. Boys were favored for jobs outside the home in any field that wasn't stereotypically female; housecleaning, sewing, babysitting were seen as appropriate for women. Paper delivery or grocery bagging at the neighborhood store, or shelf-stocking, were boys' jobs.
Parents worried more about their girls. Too many perverts out there.
I think this was a big part of it and especially today. I certainly would worry about my daughter out there, going door to door dealing with strangers in the neighborhood.
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