Women in Different Times

Jane sat at her desk wondering how to go about the article that her boss wanted her to write about, he wanted her to write about the women in the late 1800’s like her grandmother.  Her grandmother had been born in 1832 and lived her whole life in two homes that she lived in. First, when she was born on June 8, 1832, she lived with her parents, Norma and Joe Taylorson. She was not allowed to go to school since that was taboo in those days and the university didn’t even talk to women who wanted more education. Men thought women were only useful to keep the house clean, cook their food, sew their clothes, and make sure the husband got whatever whenever he wanted. Men were thought of as king of their castles and women were mere slaves that did there men’s bidding.

Her mother would always tell her stories of the hardship that women had to endure because of the rules in the past. Rules that had been out-of-dated at even that time, those rules were out for the benefit of men and didn’t even give a second thought to the role of a woman. At the age of ten, she had thought of how grossly unfair they were being to women by not allowing them to education and for them to equal a man. Women were smarter than men and deserved to be equally considered for jobs as well as education. Without even thinking about what she was typing, she wrote about how women were not allowed to go to school and were looked down as possession of the man who was head of the household plus no university would let them be considered to join the ranks of the student in their holy halls. Men were thought of as God’s gift to womankind which was a trait of some men today. 

Their houses would be warm from the women as they cooked fresh bread, cakes, and pies to go along with their dinners. No woman was excused from the steamy hot work of cooking, her mother could remember how her mother had to complain about being in a hothouse when she was pregnant with her. How sick she had felt and just wanted to be outside in the fresh air playing around with the children like her loving husband was.  Fresh air would have done her body good instead she was inside with the steam hitting her in the face causing her to get sick to the stomach enough to vomit. Some days, her grandmother had compared being a woman who was like hell on Earth. She sat on this little stool by the fireside helping her mother until her mother allowed her outside with the other children that were playing and having a good time.

As she sat there, she started to think about her childhood, playing with her brother by the pool and getting pushed in to feel the cool water hitting her warm body that was heated by the sunshine of the July day. She started to remember the sleepover at friend’s houses, eating dinner with a family that invited her along to go to the movies, and getting the family dog to love her better than her brother. She remembers going to school all way through the twelfth grade and on into a College to be prepared for her job as a reporter. She had loved history class through all those grades and even into college days, she took some history class to pass them with straight “A’s”. She was even thinking about continuing her education just to be able to study more about history.  Sarah wondered if the girls in the 1800s were allowed sleepover or going out to eat with a different family. She had asked one of her professors and they told her, “I doubt it because the girls and women of the family were not allowed to do anything except clean the house and care for the men of the family. The mother of the family was expected to have a large family even if the family couldn’t support them. Men thought back then that a big family was a good sign of a loving family, the men still wanted that good reputation of being a good father and caring husband even if they weren’t. Some men today still want a large family, but only if they can support them. Men are starting to think with their brains instead of something else.”

Jane thought to herself that the women of the past and the women of the future had different lifestyles. She would wonder what the women of the past would think of her lifestyle of working, cooking, and clean her apartment. She decided how she got to work for herself, decisions like that were not taking out of her hand by her husband or her father. She didn’t bow to any man that thought they were God’s gift to women and she knew she made her own decision for herself.

Thinking about the difference made her realize that there were many such as how they dressed. The women of the past had to wear the big, large dress that probably was hot during the hot weather. Women of the present and future dress as they want to such as herself which was dressed in a knee-length skirt and a white shirt, she knew that a woman of the past would be shocked to see her dressed like she was, the woman would be shocked beyond words.

Sitting back against her chair, she closed her eyes to pretend that she was back in 1800 to see what exactly would be the react of the men and women of that age.  She saw the men were shocked by the flash reaction that went across their faces and they tried to cover her with a jacket that one of them had. Asking her if she had been having problems with something or someone taking her clothes and asked if someone had tried to force themselves on her plus the women’s reaction was just as bad. Women asked her where the rest of her outfit was and they asked her if a wild animal had ripped it off of her. She laughed as they were making a friendly joke and said, “I’m from the future and this is how the women of the future dress.” As she left her dream, she knew that the people of the past would be shocked about how everyone lived now in the future, shocked beyond words.

A different train of thought burst into her mind with one single question which was how shocked would she be to see the women and how they dress in the future? Would she be speechless or would she tell them how much she liked how they were dressed?