She was born before Women in the USA all had the right to vote.

She worked the same job as a man for 50 years and never received equal pay. It was merely societally accepted that men should receive more money for equal work; even if some women might actually do a better job than a male peer. She quietly accepted this as did most women of her day.

In 1965, she highly praised the Supreme Court rule that allowed married couples to have a Constitutional right to privacy that includes the right to use birth control. Before that, the only legal method to prevent unwanted pregnancies was for a married couple to abstain from sex. That was what her grandmother finally did after having 8 children and multi miscarriages. For many women, preventing additional pregnancies became a matter of life and death. Many were forced to give up their physical love lives; while others, instead used "illegal" birth control methods.

She was happy and hopeful when the US Senate passed the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972. First proposed by the National Woman’s political party in 1923, the Equal Rights Amendment was designed to provide for the legal equality of the sexes and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. Maybe her daughters and granddaughters and the women in the family going-forward would have life better than she and the women behind her did.

Sadly, not enough states ratified the amendment to make it a law for women to be the equal to men. So, today women still are not legally considered the equal of men in America.

However, in 1972, the Supreme Court did eventually legalize birth control for unmarried people. That opened many doors for young women in education and employment.

In 1973, she highly praised the federal government for finally allowing female bodily autonomy nationwide. That came as the result of a Supreme Court decision called Row vs Wade. This law promised a better (and safer) life for her daughters and granddaughters.

However, going forward, as of 2022, women's rights have been set back nearly 50 years after the 1973 Abortion Rights ruling was overturned. One US state is currently now even considering the death penalty for a woman who has an abortion for any reason.

Men still retain their bodily autonomy (without fear of punishment) in all 50 states.

Meanwhile, women, in most conservative states, have been reduced to again being second class citizens. If a pregnancy (even as the result of rape or incest) is involved, they also have potential government punishment hanging over their heads. Perhaps the state considering the death penalty would like to enforce that by burning a woman at the stake...

Legal birth control is now also under the microscope in many states. That would cement the idea that women are not men's equals solely because of their biological status. Without birth control, women do get pregnant. Men don't.

So, it seems that for a little while, things did get better for women. However, a lot of the gains are now being reversed. Hopefully, the women of the future will have things better than those of today. At the moment, it seems that a great deal of women's rights in the Twenty-first Century are suddenly less than in the Twentieth Century. The quest for female equality is on a backwards slide.

Female suppression is a major worldwide problem. It is not a new problem.

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted this week that women’s rights were “abused, threatened and violated” around the world, and gender equality won’t be achieved for 300 years given the current pace of change.

"Progress won over decades is vanishing,” Mr. Guterres said.

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According to the United Nations, International Women's Day started in America in 1909, when men and women in America took to the streets to honor garment workers who had protested against inhumane working conditions the year before. They called it National Women's Day, and it took place on February 28. The following year, the Social International established Women's Day in Copenhagen to celebrate those working for women's rights and universal suffrage. In 1911, Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland celebrated the first official International Women's Day on March 19. More than one million people attended rallies focused on suffrage, representation, education, and workers' rights.

Over the next few years, more countries in Europe marked the holiday on March 8. It wasn't until March 8, 1975, when, during International Women's Year, the United Nations celebrated it as an official holiday. Since 1975, the holiday has gained awareness around the globe as a way to recognize women.

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This is the first International Women’s Day since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion last year and many states adopted restrictions on abortion. The open question now becomes: are women's rights improving or are they instead being taken away???