Do modern women have life easy?

Back in the 1970's the men of the town may well have been outside doing exciting things like repairing cars, gardening, DIY and cycling down the hills of Wycombe at speed. However life for a woman back then was not as good.

Someone had to stay indoors and cook the dinner and that task fell to the lady of the house along with other niceties like sewing, cleaning, washing and ironing. Indeed most indoor tasks were considered to be women’s work.

Forty years ago there were very few automatic washing machines and cleaning clothes was a laborious and labour intensive task.

In the world of work there was still discrimination against the fairer gender in terms of equal pay, training and job opportunities.

On the television it was not uncommon to hear comedians joke about women and ridicule their place in society.

Of course all that changed in 1975 with the introduction of the first Sex Discrimination Act aimed at promotion equality between men and women in general life.

I fear that although brought in with good intentions the legislation was the start of the laws aimed at changing society which culminated in the encroachment of political correctness that gripped society in the 1980's.

Years ago meals had to be prepared from individual ingredients which meant it often took hours of slaving away over a hot stove to prepare a meal.

In the past forty years the electric freezer has wormed its way into almost every household in the country closely followed by pre-prepared and processed food.

Walk around any supermarket today and you will find a plethora of ready prepared ingredients and meals like tins of soup, pre-prepared pies, pizzas and so called 'ready meals'.

These days getting something to eat is a simple a process indeed a 'ready meal' can be purchased and put into an oven with very little effort required.

Thanks to automatic washing machines there is no need to scrub or wash by hand meaning those who do washing can sit and relax reading a magazine while the clothes are cleaned.

Cheap clothing shops have all but put pay to mending garments in fact thanks to child workers in foreign countries clothes are so cheap people often joke about throwing them away and buying new rather than washing them.

As for ironing, well, it seems modern fashion favours creased and crinkled clothes as they are considered trendy.

But who actually does all the cooking, cleaning and washing in a modern household?

From the tales my good self hears from my married friends it seems these days the task of running a house falls fairly and squarely on the men while the women sit down, relax and generally give out orders.

I even know of one unfortunate chap who thinks his wife is cooking him a hearty meal herself when in fact she is heating up pre-prepared food or on some days using the telephone to order a pizza delivery.

No longer treated as second rate citizens modern women have, in some cases, risen to become the dominant gender and for those still doing the chores help comes from a host of labour saving devices.

So back to my original question, 'Do modern women have life easy?', well, I think compared to forty years ago the answer must be a resounding 'yes'.

Of course that begs the question 'Has equality legislation gone too far?' and should it be reversed which would be a very interesting topic for a future blog....

What do you think?

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