[eru]

Well, depending on how wide you want to cast your net, paid employment (for any gender) is a fairly novel invention.

Women were only 'property' in some societies sometimes.

And I'm not sure there were (m)any instances where women were both considered property, but were also working a paid job where the money went to the husband? I'm afraid you might be mixing up your 'bad old times'?

(I agree that the present is by and large much more pleasant, but not everything bad happened all at once in the same place.)