19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, October 4, 1914: <<no entry>>
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Yesterday, I wrote about the suffragettes’ booth at the Milton Fair. Since Grandma again didn’t write anything a hundred years ago today, I’m still thinking about gender issues. Sometimes I’m amazed by the things that women could and couldn’t do a hundred years ago. Women couldn’t vote, but they could hunt—go figure.
Well boys could hunt too, right? The US and their guns… 😉
Diana xo
🙂
Times have certainly changed for women in many parts of the world.
Yes, there sure have been a lot of changes for women, I’m often surprised how many changes there have been even in my lifetime.
I remember many things girls could not do even in the sixties during my time in elementary and middle school. Where I grew up in central PA, there were no sport teams for girls (Title Nine hadn’t happened yet) and only boys were able to be acolytes in church.( A few of the issues that bothered me.) Women’s lib were bringing many issues up during that time too.
Your memories of growing up in central Pennsylvania are very similar to mine. I think that Title Nine was passed when I was a sophomore or junior–and my high school tried to get a girl’s basketball team going my senior year. And, I also really wanted to be an acolyte at church. I was the only girl my age at my church, but there were 5 or 6 boys. They could all be acolytes, but I couldn’t.
Yes, it sounds like we are about the same age. My high school had a girls’ team, but it was really late to start a sport at that age. There were also no league teams outside of school for girls either. I made my daughters play a sport and acolyte. They had trouble understanding why it was so important to me as it was not big deal to them. Time rolls on and life evolves.
I was surprised that women could get licenses. I love to hunt so it is nice to see that other women enjoyed the sport as much as I do. Plus the meat is wonderful.
Venison is delicious!
Apparently it was rare enough to be newsworthy for women (and men over 60) to get a license.
How true–I also thought it was interesting that they thought it was newsworthy for both women AND men over 60.
Back in the day, hunting more commonly put meat on the table than it does today. When my dad hunted squirrel or pheasant, that’s what we had for dinner. It may be that some women applied for licenses in the absence of men, in order to stock the larder. It would be interesting to know.
I hadn’t thought about it, but you may be right that women who did not have men in the family needed to hunt to get food.
I also thought about hunting being more as a way to get food in those days than as a sport.
Yes, I think they probably hunted to get the meat–thought it seems like there may have been a state-regulated hunting season by that time.
Another reminder of just how much things have changed in our world!
Yes, so much has changed!
I guess if they thought if 60 year old men could hunt, maybe women could too. 🙂 On the other hand, 60 year old men were voting when women could not.
I love the way you put that. 🙂
Could they drink in a public place?