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With the other thread, the title wasn't explicit enough to outright refer to women so I hope this thread makes up for that.
My pick is pantyhose. It revolutionized the fashion industry where overnight, women switched from garter belt to pantyhose (now if only they could make garter belts as comfortable as pantyhose - that would be another great invention).
Last edited by education explorer; 01-10-2017 at 01:56 PM..
That's easy. Birth control! For the first time we got to control our bodies instead of the other way around.
And it wasn't just my generation who said this. I had this exact conversation at my 93yo grandma's kitchen table before she died. And she was born in the 1800's! I was shocked! It wasn't autos, planes, or landing on the moon. It was birth control!
Grandma was a lady and according to what I remember she said, "Every time your grandfather hung his pants on the bed post I ended up with another mouth to feed that we couldn't afford." And she would know. She raised 8 kids and took care of assorted elderly relatives, all during the Great Depression.
I've gotta agree with birth control as being the major invention to benefit women in the U.S. and Canada. I'm not being facetious when I suggest the telephone was a major help as well. The ability to have instant contact with others, even within an isolated household, brought social pressure on some abusive situations. The huge strides in agriculture and preserving food took away the needs for large gardens and the labor involved.
Birth control was huge for sure. It has changed far more than people realize. Our dependence on immigration for population growth can be mostly attributed to birth control.
One that people usually miss are the changes brought about by convenience technologies like washer / dryer, dish washer, refrigeration etc. These things freed up considerable amounts of time in what was a traditionally a woman's homemaking role. Once the time got freed up, this allowed woman to do other things like get an education or work. Without these technologies, woman might still be in the dark ages socially.
Think about it, if laundry, dishes, food prep (buying, cooking, canning, salting etc) took all day we'd still have parents in the home. You simply don't have enough time in a day to put 8 hours in at work and come home to do all this stuff while getting enough sleep and rest to be healthy. Just not feasible.
The rise of leisure time, combined with the impact of many men leaving the workforce for WW were huge factors in woman's lib. However if the leisure time wasn't there, very likely after the war many would of simply had to go back to their homes as opposed to furthering their movement.
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