theme 3 society in transition - 3B: the changing role and status of women

Women gained the right to vote first at the age of — in 19– - (RPA)

30, 18. If they were a member or married to a member of the LG register, a graduate, or a property owner

Women gained equal voting rights to men

1928 - all women aged 21+

Work opportunities 1919-1929

Still highly gendered, women experienced low wages, low skilled jobs and long hours

RPA - what percentage of the electorate were women 1918?

43% - 8.4 million voters

Women in WW1

Worked as auxiliaries, drivers, telephonists, signallers and nurses on the western front

By 1918 there were over — million women employed in the — and — industries

1 million, chemical and metals

In Britain’s main cordite factor, Gretna, —— women worked to create ——

11,000,explosives

The govt ‘dilution’ agreement 1914 with the TU’s

Skilled workers who went to fight in france could be replaced by semi-skilled labour, inclusion women on two conditions.

Conditions of 1914 ‘Dilution’

Their employment lasted only as long as the war did

The new workers would not be able to profit from the war and would not be paid higher wages

Post WW1 employment levels - returned to 1919 levels

5.7 million

The return of men meant a return to traditional ideas about gender - women retuned to clerical or service work

Woman’s work

Working ‘in service’ as a maid, cook or cleaner

In 1918 —— million women were ‘in service’

1.25 million

1920’s gender roles in employment

Employers only hired women for factory or service work if there were WC or clerical work in they were educated

Clerical work was the biggest growth area for female employment in the 1920’s

1 million employs as typists or clerks by 1921 and a further 300,000 ten years later

2/3rds or all work done by WC women was done from home

Baking, brewing, sewing ‘piece work’ was combined with household tasks and caring children

The suffrage campaign that resulted in the RPA 1918 was mostly by MC women

Only the radical fringes of the suffrage movement wanted uneducated WC women to gain the vote

Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919

Gave women greater opportunities when applying for work in these fields and there is some evidence to suggest that male attitudes were starting to change

In 1931 there were

3,000 female medical practitioners, 180,000 nurses, 21 female architects.

Teaching was a popular career for educated women BUT

Until 1944 they had to leave the profession if they married

In 1931 84% of the female workforce was

Single, divorced, or widowed

Married women, especially MC, were expected to stay home

Ivy Williams

The 1st woman to be called to the English bar in 1922

Had first qualified as a lawyer 20 years earlier

During the interwar period never more than 5% of — were women. The number of women — peaked at 12 in 19–

MPs, MPs, 1931

Edith Summerskill - Labour MP said of the HoC

‘Like a boys school that decided to take. Few girls’

The Labour Party attracted more women than the other parties

150,000 joined between 1918 and 1924

Many Labour activists felt women should stay home

Only 9 women served as Labour MPs in the interwar period

Women were more influential at a local level

By 1930 less than 15% of elected local councillors were female.

Many were focused on social issues (education and welfare)

Thelma Cazalet-Keir

Serve as a Conservative Councillor in london between 1924 and 1931 before becoming an MP in October 1931

By 1944 ——- women worked on farms for th Women’s Land Army

80,000

The Women’s Voluntary Service

supported the civil defence forces and offered shelter and comfort to bombing victims

Benefits of the war years for women

• many were paid better as a result of employment

• Acquired new skills and confidence

• Many reached levels of importance and seniority that were not available to them in civilian life

• Working alongside men gave many women a sense of participation and contribution

Those that remained in post war employment worked in almost exclusively female fields:

86% of working women in 1951 were in nursing, teaching, factory work, waitressing and clerical work

The marriage bar

Before 1944 most women were required to give up work once they were married. From 1946 onwards major employees started to remove the requirement.

The practice of the marriage bar ended in:

1944 - teaching

1946 - the civil service

1949 - the Bank of England

A 1948 study of 100 women in three different locations found

A widespread desire to end work after marriage

The need for extra income as th email motivation for working

Most women didn’t identify themselves by their work or see it as part of their identity

50% of married women retaining their jobs by —-

1972

Until the late 195’s unequal pay was an established norm for women

Women received on avg 40% less money than men

The Equal Pay Act 1970

Equal pay was a prerequisite for joining the EEC - the law made pay discrimination between men and women illegal - came into effect in 1975

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975

Established the Equal Opportunities Commission - ensured that fair employment practices were observed - established tribunals to deal with sexual harassment - recognised sexual discrimination

The Dagenham Sewing Machinists’ strike 1968

Management at the Ford Motor Company’s Dagenham factory decided to pay female sewing machinists 15% less than men

Female machinists went on strike for 3 weeks and Sec of State for Employment Barbara Castle intervened

Negotiated a 7% pay increase - equal pay wasn’t established till 1984 with a further strike

1945-79 number female MPs

Between 20 and 30 with dips in 1951 and 1979

Due to prejudice and widespread belief that women would be busy with domestic responsibility

In the period 1918-39 women’s role and status remained largely unchanged

Women were seen as homemakers - access to greater freedoms was generally experienced by MC women

1918-1930’s divorce conditions

• an unhappy couple count not divorcee based on mutual consent - had to be violence or adultery

• If one spouse had neem unfaithful the could divorce - if both had the court could refuse

1937 Matrimonial Causes Act

Allowed for divorce if either partner had been unfaithful - as well as for desertion after 3 years

Average number of divorce petitions pre MCA and by 1951

Below 4,800 pr year, by 1951 it was 38,000

First birth control clinic

Founded by Dr Marie Stopes in 1921 in London

Health workers that directed women to the clinic were sacked - clinics spread across the country throughout the 1920’s

(only offered advice not contraception)

Birth control in 1930

Many LA’s were arguing that it was essential to fund the clinics

Govt decided in 1930 that it was acceptable to advise mothers that already had one child and a second would cause health damage

In 1930 the CofE allowed married members to use birch control measures

1930 the General Medical Coundil allowed Drs to give contraception advice to married couples - WC women without NI didn’t get advice

Contraceptives, condoms, pessaries, and other forms of BC could be bought from barber, chemists, and hygiene stores

The Flapper Look

Shorter skirts, shorter haircuts and exotic fashion - grew as a trend after 1918

Flappers

• Enjoyed dancing, Jazz, social Freedoms.

• Press portrayed as promiscuous and glamorous - no evidence that their attitudes to sex were any different

• Smoking and drinking

• Conditional on having a good income and plenty of leisure time - not WC women

The 1933 Hungry England Enquiry

In some instances women were starving to feed their families

Women with poor families often had lots of children

In parts of East London in the 1930’s 9 children were not uncommon

Unemployment benefits became means tested in

1934 - women with multiple children living in poverty struggled - man lived below the poverty line

In the 1950’s —% of women interviewed were —— with their lives at home

40%, content - the remaining 60% experienced, boredom, frustration, and loneliness

The 1950’s housewife

Portrayed in newspapers and TV ads as the controller of the domestic sphere, utilising modern technology to run the kitchen - not to just cook and clean but to be the decision maker in day to day purchasing decisions

Women’s Liberation movement issues:

• birth control and reproductive rights

• Domestic violence

• Sexism in the workplace

• Pornography and the objectification of women

• The effect on women’s confidence and mental health of a patriarchal society

When was the contraceptive pill introduced

1961 - doctors were only allowed to prescribe to married women - fearing it might encourage promiscuity - shows that drs were seen as guardians of public morality

With a decade (1971) —- women were using the pill, demonstrating its popularity and the needs of many women to limit the number of children they have

A million

In 1971 47% of women had —-

Their first child by the age of 25 - fell to 25% by the end of the century - able to focus on careers and education

Abortion was decriminalised by an Act of Parliament by Liberal MP David Steel in

1967

How many abortion per year by 1979?

150k

Impact of the women’s lib movement

• Treated as politically irrelevant and extremist

• 1968 the most prominent female politician Barbara Castle refused to discuss the legacy of female suffrage at the Labour Party conference

• The number of women’s groups in london grew from 4 to over 50

In 1970 protest groups staged demonstrations at the Miss World Beauty Contest

Storming the stage at the Royal Albert Hall and throwing flour bombs at the all-male panel - the BBC void cast unit outside were attached by the Angry Brigade - an anarchist terrorist group protesting the ‘oppression of women’

Spare Rib magazine

Published by feminist writers inc Sheila Rowbotham - from 1972 onwards - linked the feminist movement to socialist politics, arguing socialist feminism

Refuges for victims of domestic violence - early 1970s

Activists set up refuges and centres for victims of DV and their children - Chiswick Women’s Aid, started by Erin Pizzey (didnt identify as a feminist)

In 1974 the National Women’s Aid Federation was established

United 40 independent women’s refuges - campaigned for legislation against DV.

1976 Domestic Violence and and Matrimonial Proceedings Act

Provided courts with the power to impose injunctions on individuals that assaulted their spouse - jail time if breached

Rape Crisis Centres

1st opened in 1973 - party as a result of consciousness raising meetings - treatment of rape victims in the legal system - within a decade there were 60 across the UK

1975 Abortion Act (amendment)

Sponsored by James White MP, believing that unborn foetuses were being aborted that would be able to survive outside the womb - reduced the time limit on abortions to 20 weeks

Of the 112,000 abortion carried out in 1978 in England and wales:n

96,000 were deemed for medical grounds - suggesting that most abortions were not frivolous