For everyone who thinks that sexism is a thing of the past, or something that only happens in other countries with different cultural codes, we encourage you to reconsider your position. And it’s not just the more nebulous things that women are excluded from. These are actual written laws that are completely enforceable.
You’ll be surprised to learn that there are some truly bizarre laws out there targeting women specifically, and seemingly for no apparent reason other than that they’re women. Some are terrifying, like the laws that allow domestic violence, and some are just downright confusing.
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1. Though this law still exists on the books, it gets broken pretty much every week, as you can imagine. Married women are fine to jump out of a plane, though single or widowed women are not. This remains something of a mystery, according to law professor James Woodruff in an interview with
KSHB. In the interview, Woodruff details how many bizarre laws like this were created for moral reasons in a different time. They stay on because having a law removed is a lot harder than adding one, so everyone just agrees to ignore the ones that no longer make sense.
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2. Yemen is a
pretty bad place if you’re a woman. In court, women are literally considered half a person, and their testimony is almost never considered. They also aren’t considered witnesses, regardless of whether or not they have information on a crime. Women are also not protected from domestic or sexual violence, are forbidden from leaving their homes, and can even be subject to “arbitrary arrest” simply for being female.
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3. Apparently,
cheese is really sensitive to suspicious ladies. There’s no information, though, about how these evil looks or ill repute are determined. Maybe there’s some kind of checklist.
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4.
Human Rights Watch describes the Saudi government’s attitude towards women as the way other countries view minors. They can’t drive or vote, and traveling, studying and working all require written permission from a male guardian. Women have protested these laws by staging “drive-ins” where they would drive through the streets. Attitudes seem to be changing, though, and the Saudi king announced that women would get the vote in 2015. Driving though? Still out of the question.
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5. Iran isn’t exactly known to the rest of the world as a bastion of gender equality (at least, not for the last several decades). The official reason for the law is that the clergy fears that modesty might not be observed at a sporting event if women were in attendance. This included televised sporting events. Female sports fans, though, have long protested these laws, staging protests, sneaking into stadiums and even risking beatings from security guards. During the world cup, dozens of girls and women
gathered outside the stadium in Tehran to state their displeasure with the law.
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6. This is another law that was likely enacted in the 19th century. Laws like this usually came about during moral panics in an attempt to keep conservative religious values at the forefront of society. However, they never seem to age well. Plus, the logistics of measuring the yardage of clothing on someone’s body seems tricky.
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7. Another place not always known for its progressive stance on things (although that seems to be changing), the Vatican outlawed voting for women and also prevented women from opening bank accounts. However, the bank account law was revoked. Women
still can’t vote, but then neither can anyone else except for cardinals. The Vatican also has laws against women wearing pants. To date, there are only 4 permanent female residents of Vatican City.
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8. There’s not a lot of history on this, but
apparently, it’s a thing. It may be a holdover about women making medical decisions, but that’s only speculation. Of course, it’s also illegal to whistle underwater in Vermont…
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9. It’s unclear if this is still the case, but if a woman popped the question to a man in Whitesville, Delaware, she
could be charged with disorderly conduct. Delaware recognizes same-sex marriage today, so we’re unclear about a woman proposing to another woman.
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10. No, not for health reasons. Why ever would a law care about a woman’s health, amirite? No, the actual, real reason for this
fashion law is, and we quote: “the privilege of admiring the curvaceous, unencumbered body of a young woman should not be denied to the normal, red-blooded American male.” Excuse us while we vomit.
Some of these laws might seem comparatively tame compared to others. Some of the more archaic ones, particularly those in the U.S., are largely ignored in modern times. But the fact still remains that there are laws in place to control people based on nothing but their sex. Equality? Not really.
