Commenters disagree.  Women have it "easier today."  No, "harder".  No, "easier."  I say "both."  It's easier for young women to do exactly what they want...and harder for them to stay safe.  

Until men (AND women, who suddenly had the right to vote "wet") repealed Prohibition, it was much more difficult for most young ladies to be raped (until they got married, but that's another subject.)  At the alter, most were virgins. This, in SPITE of the fact that many men were drunks.  Women bravely stepped around and over them on the way to shops that sometimes placed pails of booze at doorways to entice male shoppers. A veritable Saloon Culture. Canada's 1890s Booze capital?  Winnipeg, with over 80 bars to serve 16,000 residents--most were "payday  drunks."

No matter: at the alter, most brides were still  virgins. Society protected them. To do that, it put them in social straitjackets. Society doesn't do that any more.  You're  free, ladies.  Freedom comes with costs and consequences.