This '129 ways to get a husband' article from the fifties shows just how far we've come

Luckily for us women, generations of women before us have fought for - and in some instances given their lives - for us to have more equal rights with men.

It was only 100 years ago in 1918 that certain women were deemed 'rational' enough to get the vote, and still today there are pervading differences and injustices in how men and women are treated. The gender pay gap, for example, is still a rife problem, with women on average earning 9.1 per cent less per hour than their male colleagues.

First wave feminism, which was instigated by the suffrage movement at the beginning of the 20th century, aimed at achieving voting and property rights for women, while second wave feminism, which took place during the sixties, aimed to broaden these issues, and address sexuality, reproductive rights, issues of domestic violence, and legal inequalities.

Now we've had a mini history lesson, we can celebrate those brave women's achievements, and be thankful that some women in the 21st century now have more options than simply trying to nail themselves down a husband, pop out a few babies, and live 'happily' (yeah, right) after.

In order to hammer home just how far we've come, Facebook user Kim Marx-Kuczynski took to her account to post a series of photographs of a 1958 article in a women's magazine, titled '129 ways to get a husband'.

And yes, it's just as hilarious, and shocking, as you'd imagine.

In the post, she wrote:

I bought a McCall's magazine from 1958 because the cover advertised an article titled '129 Ways to Get a Husband' and it did not disappoint.

The whole list is littered with WTF but my personal favorite (#40) has had me randomly busting into laughing fits since I read it three days ago.

At the beginning of the article, the journalist writes:

In the United States today there are 16 million women over the age of seventeen who are not married

Presumably the vast majority of them would like to be.

The text then explains how the publisher asked 16 women to brainstorm how lonely women could get men to pay attention to them, and it divides it into separate sections, such as 'Where to find him'; 'How to look good to him'; and 'How to land him'.

Examples of ways women are encouraged to 'get their man' are as varied as carrying around a hat box, to not discussing their former boyfriends. Wow, how very useful.

Speaking to Bored Panda about the article, Marx-Kuczynski said:

My boyfriend John Bascynski spotted it at a rummage sale and pointed it out. I bought it for a dollar.

I think the article is reflective of the social mores of the era, and I found the comparison between what was acceptable then and what is acceptable now fascinating.

It also made me grateful that so much progress has been made.

She continued:

It’s outdated and absurd and funny, but it had serious intentions.

Society has changed so much in the last sixty years, and this article exemplifies the differences between what our moms and grandmas grew up with compared to ourselves and the coming generations.

It’s fascinating.

HT Bored Panda

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