Britain 11- social and cultural change

Question 1

How did differences between the rich and poor change during the 1920s?

Answer 1

the disparity between the living standards in the poorest an the wealthiest parts of the country widened

Question 2

what 4 examples of legislation was passed between 1922-29 to give women greater legal equality?

Answer 2

1923- matrimonial causes act
1924- the guardianship of infants act
1926- the new English law of property
1928- the representation of the people act

Question 3

what did the matrimonial causes act mean?

Answer 3

women no longer had to prove cruelty, desertion or another cause in addition to adultery as ground for divorce

Question 4

what did the 1924 guardianship of infants act mean?

Answer 4

gave guardianship of infant children to both parents jointly

Question 5

what did the new English law of property 1926 mean?

Answer 5

allowed both married and single women to hold and dispose of their property on the same terms as men

Question 6

what did the representation of the people act 1928 mean?

Answer 6

gave women over 21 the vote

Question 7

what were women encouraged to do after the war?

Answer 7

to return home or to their traditional occupations so did not compete with men in what were considered male only occupations

Question 8

how many women (reluctantly) returned to domestic work after war?

Answer 8

reached 1.6 million by 1931

Question 9

what traditional area of work for women was biggest area of growth in 1920s for female employment? how many employed?

Answer 9

clerical work
over 1 mill employed as typists or clerks by 1921, by 1929 this had grown to 300,000

Question 10

what were the problems with women’s jobs during 1920s?

Answer 10

remained in jobs that required long hours and low skills even if educated and continued to work for lower wages than men

Question 11

what is the ‘marriage bar’?

Answer 11

meant female employees, in particular teachers, nurses, doctors and cleaners were sacked as soon as they were married

Question 12

how much did the number of female teachers drop to due to the ‘marriage bar’?

Answer 12

1921- 187,000
1931-181,000

Question 13

what percentage of women were expelled from their jobs each year due to the ‘marriage bar’?

Answer 13

4

Question 14

how did govts encourage women to stay home and have babies?

Answer 14

emphasised in many magazines for women which painted a picture of married bliss and motherhood in an ideal home

Question 15

even though women were adopted as parliamentary candidates for main parties, how were they still prejudiced?

Answer 15

they were mainly candidates in constituencies where the party was unlikely to win

Question 16

what percentage of HOC were women in 1924 election?

Answer 16

1

Question 17

who was the first female cabinet minister and when?

Answer 17

Margaret Bondfield- 1929

Question 18

women never made up more than ?% of MPs

Answer 18

5

Question 19

which organisations did women play a key role in outside the formal structures of govt?

Answer 19

(NUSEC) -National Union for the Societies of Equal Citizenship
co-operative guilds and local labour groups
women’s institutes

Question 20

what did NUSEC do and who led it?

Answer 20

lobbied parliament to gain further legislative equality, such as welfare benefits for married women

Question 21

what did co-operative guilds and labour women’s groups do?

Answer 21

women’s groups helped educate working class women by holding lectures and discussion groups on a wide range of topics

Question 22

what did the women’s institutes do?

Answer 22

became a place where women could meet other women, organise charitable events and other activities and also hear speakers on various topics

Question 23

how did women’s fashion change after the war?

Answer 23

dress of the Edwardian era disappeared. hems rose, waistlines dropped, corsets disappeared. young fashionable women wore their hems at knee level

Question 24

how did hairstyles change after the war?

Answer 24

now cut short in bobs often worn with a close-fitting bell-shaped hat

Question 25

other cultural changes for women after war?

Answer 25

seen in public more often, began to smoke, wear make-up, go to cinema or dance hall, some women had access to birth control

Question 26

what was the BBC’s aim?

Answer 26

the education of the public interns of culture

Question 27

what was the negative surrounding development of ‘popular culture’?

Answer 27

remained a big divide between ‘high’ culture pursued by the upper and middle classes and ‘low’ culture enjoyed by the working classes

Question 28

what was the most important form of mass communication in the 1920s?

Answer 28

newspapers

Question 29

what did the amount of newspapers increase from in 1920 to in 1930?

Answer 29

1920- 2 papers
1930- 5 papers

Question 30

give 3 examples of women’s magazines

Answer 30

high quality- vogue and Harper’s Bazaar
cheaper- Women’s weekly

Question 31

give some examples of new titles in boys magazines in the 1920s

Answer 31

Adventure, The Rover and The Wizard

Question 32

who were the most famous box-office stars and why was this a problem?

Answer 32

American actors and by 1925 only 5% of all films shown in Britain were made by British film companies

Question 33

who was the great British star of the silent movies?

Answer 33

Charlie Chaplin

Question 34

what act associated with cinema was passed in 1927? and what did it mean?

Answer 34

the cinematograph act- ensured that 7.5% of films shown had to be British

Question 35

why was the cinematograph act a success and a failure?

Answer 35

s- larger audiences for British films
f- created a market of poor quality, low cost films made in order to satisfy quota

Question 36

when did the British Broadcasting Company become the BBC?

Answer 36

1926

Question 37

how did the sole broadcaster General manager Lord Reith describe radios aim?

Answer 37

‘inform, educate and entertain’ people

Question 38

give 2 writers who were war veterans during the 1920s and what they challenged?

Answer 38

Charles Montague and Ford Maddox Ford who challenged pre-war assumptions in their literature