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Overview
If you’re single and feeling sad, don’t forget that being single is a time of great freedom. You can go out and find new friends, explore the world around you, work on your dreams without distractions. Single women helped build America for 250 years by working in factories and developing urban centers so that men could fight in wars.
Although women have made many strides toward social equality, there’s no question that being a single woman in modern society is still difficult.
The gender pay gap and the media’s focus on women’s rights has brought attention to single, working women in America.
Society still views single women with suspicion. It was difficult to be a single woman in New York City in the 1950s because of society’s view on that matter. The author argues that it’s never been better to be single than it is today, due to new technology and social progress.
Big Idea #1: In the 1990s, there was a national discussion about sexual harassment in the workplace.
There are more single women today than married ones. However, that wasn’t always the case. In 1991, an unmarried woman was not taken seriously when she claimed to have been sexually harassed at work. Anita Faye Hill’s testimony against her employer, Clarence Thomas, who was about to be appointed to America’s highest court—the Supreme Court—highlighted this fact.
As her boss, Thomas allegedly made repeated sexual remarks to Hill. He referenced lewd acts and the size of his penis. Shockingly, Hill’s status as a single woman was used against her during the hearings. They even declared that she suffered from erotomania – delusions that powerful men were attracted to her. The Senate Judiciary Committee eventually dismissed Hill’s claims and went on to appoint Thomas to the Supreme Court. As the hearings were televised, the incident became national news. And given the outcome, many American women were outraged at how poorly they had been treated by their government representatives in Washington D.C.. At least one year after this incident occurred, an unusually large number of women ran for Senate seats and won them.
Four of these candidates won their races to become senators.
Big Idea #2: The American Revolution allowed women to step into roles that were traditionally held by men.
For women in America’s early days, marriage was necessary for survival. Widows had no rights to property unless they inherited from their husbands. Women were forbidden by law to own property and could only inherit if their husband died. If a widow didn’t have any assets, she would be forced to rely on her community or family members for support.
Single women were marginalized by the law and scorned by society. They were often called thornbacks, which is a ray fish with a barbed tail and little flesh. This shows how negatively society viewed older single women who had little chance of finding husbands.
There was a time when women were not allowed to vote or participate in society. It wasn’t until the late 1700s that they began to fight for their rights and be more independent. In order to do so, many of them had to take charge of the family business or property while men left home during the Revolutionary War. At this time, radical feminist ideas from France made their way across the Atlantic Ocean and inspired American women.
By the mid-nineteenth century, more opportunities had opened up for women in America. They could now work as teachers and nurses, among other professions. This meant that they didn’t need to rely on a husband or family to support them financially. One example of this was Louisa May Alcott, who remained single her whole life and supported herself through her writing career. She worked as a teacher, nanny and nurse before publishing Little Women and Little Men.
