"For a long time, only men were allowed to have SSNs..." This is incorrect; for a long time, jobs that were more likely to be held by women or minorities (dome

"For a long time, only men were allowed to have SSNs..." This is incorrect; for a long time, jobs that were more likely to be held by women or minorities (domestic servants and agricultural workers) were excluded from the Social Security program, so those workers often didn't pay into or receive benefits from the system, and therefore never applied for a number. But there was no formal gender or racial discrimination. My sweatshop-working female relatives certainly had SSNs. Incidentally, requesting a deceased person's SS-5 (the original handwritten form that applied for a SSN) is a fantastic genealogical tool, because it lists the applicant's parents' names, including mother's maiden name, among other things. They're available from the Social Security Administration under FOIA; you can order copies through their website. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Social_Security_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Social_Security_in_... https://secure.ssa.gov/apps9/eFOIA-FEWeb/internet/main.jsp https://secure.ssa.gov/apps9/eFOIA-FEWeb/internet/main.jsp