Reply #64: My grandmother used to say that until I explained that [View All]

[Lydia Leftcoast]

the way my grandfather cheated her out of her rights to his pension would not be possible under the laws pushed by feminists.

(My grandfather had a certain jealous and paranoid streak, and he stipulated that the survivors' benefits under his teacher's pension would cease five years after his death. His reasoning was "I don't want my pension going to her second husband." My grandmother never remarried, so all of a sudden, she had nothing but Social Security. Under current laws, my grandfather would not have been able to change his pension without my grandmother's permission.)

Later, I was able to explain to my equally anti-feminist mother ("I'm happy as a housewife. What's wrong with those gals who have to have a career?") that thanks to feminists, she did not have to rely on her own meagre Social Security after my father died, because current law allows the surviving spouse to take whichever benefit is higher.

The whole public image of feminists as "bra burners" and "man haters" has overshadowed some real quiet victories of the feminist movement.

Young women find it hard to believe that in 1969, the college I attended decided to meet a financial crunch by firing all the married women faculty or cutting them back to part time. They thought they were being really humane because they didn't fire any of the single women faculty. :eyes:

No one would dare do that today, or if they did, they'd get sued within an inch of their lives.