To say women and pants have had a complicated relationship would be an understatement.

As Cassidy Zachary, a fashion historian and co-host of the Dressed podcast , told HuffPost, In Western European and American society, pants are one of the most gendered garments in history.

But, she said, it wasnt always that way.

Pants have long been and often still are more associated with men, and subsequently, power. But for centuries, women have been breaking convention by wearing pants at times when they werent considered acceptable womens attire. They were shamed, ridiculed and even arrested for wearing them. Both the United States and France had laws in place that made it illegal for women (and men) to go out in public wearing clothes that didnt belong to his or her sex.

Today, nearly all cultures and religions are accepting of women wearing pants, save a few, but its taken a while to get here.

Lett go all the way back to the 14th and 15th centuries.

Up until this time period, men and women in Western society were essentially wearing the same thing: long robes, or what we would call a dress, according to Zachary.

Throughout the 14th and 15th centuries though, mens robes began to shorten, revealing more and more of their hose. Eventually, Zachary said, the tunic-like robe became shorter and shorter, and men were left wearing their hose connected to a codpiece, which covered their genital area as the outer garments. This garment would go on to evolve into what we now identify as pants, she added.

Women, on the other hand, were still wearing long skirts during this time.

Fast forward to the 1800s ...