Ruby's Walk Through Women's History

Last Tuesday, we had our Ruby’s Pearls for the term.  It was SO interesting!  20 of us were able to go through and have a little quiet time away from our kids and munch a few nice cupcakes & muffins.

We had a lot of laughs listening to Ruby talk about that tension between being a mother and being a ‘wife’.  She took us on a little ride through history starting from pre 1898 when women didn’t even have any legal status (this means, they couldn’t own property, and couldn’t do anything in court to protect themselves), through to present day.

In 1893, NZ gave the vote to women.  Go NZ for being out there & forging new standards!  However, women still didn’t work.  We were only considered for the positions of wife, mother & servant/slave. 
In 1914 through 1918 we had World War 1.
In 1939 through 1945 World War 2 waged.  These wars changed our lives from a working perspective – we were allowed to work!  We stayed home and did the jobs our men used to do, who were now fighting the war.  After this war, we remained in the workforce.

The Kinsey Report came out in 1948 which to make it safe parlour talk, sexualised women.  Now we were allowed to enjoy sex.  To add to this, in the 50s, the pill was made available.  In Ruby’s words, now we were able to be sexy, and also be in control of our fertility!

In 1972 the DPB became available.  In addition, the reasons for divorce were made more fair to women around the same period.

All this was meant to free us, and make us feel liberated!  Most of us reported it’s just made us feel a little tired.  :O(

So Ruby finished up with some tips to help the harmony reign in our marriages.
1.    Negotiate
2.    Do ‘it’ for him even if you’re not into it.  When the canoe’s out in the water, both people usually start paddling.
3.    Remember that it takes time.  Even 10 years is a short time in the length of a marriage.  But if you can stick at it, the rewards you will reap later in that marriage are totally worth the wait.

As you can imagine, this was a fascinating talk, and we all look forward to next term with Ruby’s Pearls!