Women have always worked in America, particularly in the 20th century and beyond. Even in the 1950s, only about half of households had a stay at home mom, but you're right that women typically only had access to low paying, low status jobs and if they happened to be able to become scientists or college professors (what Ruth Bader Ginsburg had to do after graduating top of her Ivy League law school class because no firms would hire her) then there was still always harassment and a subtle or not so subtle belief that women weren't quite as smart or as capable as men. There's still an authority gap today, where women at even the highest levels often have to fight to be taken as seriously as their male counterparts. Around the time that #Metoo first broke, 200+ women in national security wrote an open letter about their experiences with sexual harassment - so even really powerful, really accomplished women still have to navigate this stuff. It's not enough to be really good at what you do.

Thanks for speaking up about this stuff and noting that it's problematic and unfair. Of course, life isn't easy for most men either, but they also typically don't have to navigate these sorts of systemic, pervasive, and deeply entrenched views.