For much of human history, the privilege to choose one's partner was reserved for men (at times exclusively). Realistically, no -- parents and family were far

For much of human history, the privilege to choose one's partner was reserved for men (at times exclusively). Realistically, no -- parents and family were far more determinative than individual men. The just-so story where men have been free for tens of thousands of years while women were in bondage doesn't hold up. Most people in the middle ages were serfs. Men mostly didn't choose their professions or have preferential access to education because pretty much everyone carried forward the life of their parents and education was not widely available. The "men were free and women were restricted" narrative, in the specifics, compares the rights and privileges of women 500 years ago with those of the men of the 1980s.