I've been reading a little about what happened to women before feminism. It used to be legal to give a woman a beating. It also used to be legal to murder her if she was caught in bed with another man. So basically a man could beat his wife and she had absolutely no economic independence, so she was completely tied to him. She had no birth control so ended up being pregnant again and again to this man. Then when he finally had his last blowout and decided to kill her, all he had to do was lie and say he caught her in bed with another man and the man ran away before he could kill him too. Then the murderer would be free to do this to another woman, and another woman.
No serious political topics were discussed with most women. Even sensible ideas raised by women were often ignored. Women scientists were discriminated against. Even Madame Curie had to deal with a lot of discrimination and she was brilliant. The author of Silas Marner, who was a woman, had to use the pen name George Eliot to get her book published, otherwise this great work of literature wouldn't have been taken seriously.
Women who agitated for the right to vote were arrested and when they went on hunger strikes they were force fed with a pipe down their throats, which was a gruesome and painful procedure. Sometimes the pipe went into their lungs instead and killed them.
I don't like the current version of feminism which promotes horrible things like man-hating, abortion, and lesbianism. However I think it's a good thing that many feminist reforms came about.