Gender In Britain Flashcards
Detail the abortion act of late 60s
1967 - David Steel
serious risk to life or health - risk of handicapped child - if capacity of mother would be severely overstrained - woman is defective, underage or rape victim
abortion treated as a medical rather than a social issue
Complete quote from Stella Browne ‘freedom of choice…’
When did she say it?
‘Freedom of choice and deliberate intention are necessary for [women] in their sexual relations and their maternity, if they are to make anything out of their status and opportunities’ - 1935
Infant mortality gradually declines at the beginning of the twentieth century, what happens to maternal mortality?
Remains fixed at 5 deaths in 1000 - 14% from unsafe abortions
What does Labour Party’s chief women’s officer say about sex?
‘Sex should not be dragged into politics’
When is the Infant Life Preservation Act? what does it say? How do you expand on this?
Infant Life Preservation Act - 1929 - Legal abortion to save mother - what counts as a threat to the mother? - Case Law only supports physical threat rather than psychological
Give two examples on ambiguous attitudes to when life began and what constituted abortion…
Women bringing on periods before ‘quickening’
Accused abortionist argues if pregnancy was terminated ‘by some means other than a sharp instrument, then it ought not to be called abortion.’
How were women excluded from discussions of abortion
Physical exclusion from public sphere
Linguistic exclusion - ‘abortion’ and ‘miscarriage’ are technical terms which are distanced from women’s bodies.
What does Orwell say about abortion and when?
‘Theoretically illegal’ but ‘looked upon as a peccadillo’ - 1944
Complete quote from Professor Sydney Smith ‘the modern woman…’
When said?
‘The modern woman had her own point of view…she had control over her own body, and if she was not inclined to go through the trouble and inconvenience of childbearing there was no moral right to compel her to do so’ 1932
When was ALRA founded and with what Key principles?
1936
Women should have deciding vote over abortion as it effects them most
Abortion a necessary precondition for full emancipation of women
How many women have abortions each year during 1930s?
90,000
When is Birkett committee? Detail…
1939
Find 15% of maternal deaths due to abortion
10 men, 5 women sit on committee, all m-c - ALRA accuses of class bias
Always treated as a medical and legal problem
Recommend no change
When and what was the Bourne Trial?
1938
Bourne deliberately provokes trial in order to expand the remit of when abortion could be performed under the law
Building on Infant Life Preservation Act - Bourne argues the serious risk to mother is psychological rather than physical
ALRA argues it is not enough and that abortion ought to be allowed for economic reasons also
Fact on usage of the pill
By 1989, 80% of women born 1950-59 had used pill as a contraceptive method
What does 1967 Family Planning Act recommend?
Encourages local authorities to encourage contraception - no restrictions on age or marital status
Complete quote ‘the best form of oral contraceptive…’
Said by who?
‘The best form of oral contraceptive is, as it has always been, the perfectly simple word ‘no’’ - MP Elaine Kellet Bowman
How do oppositional arguments to abortion change
Move from arguments based on morality to ones based on medical side effects and spread of VD rather than chastity
Who says their fear of high immigrant birth rates led to their support for free birth control services?
Conservative chairman of Birmingham Health Committee
When is the double standard removed?
1923 Matrimonial Causes Act
When is the first matrimonial causes act and what does it do?
1857 - creates divorce court at Westminster Offers divorce (subject to the double standard), judicial separation and property protection orders
What does the 1937 Matrimonial causes Act do?
Expands grounds for divorce to include cruelty and desertion
When is the Divorce Act and what does it do?
1969 - shifts principle of divorce from matrimonial fault to irretrevable breakdown
Who is prime minister in 1857 and how do the affect the passage of the matrimonial causes act?
Lord Palmerston - refuses to prorogue Parliament until it is passed
Give 2 examples of opposition to the 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act
10,000 clerical signatures on petition opposed to reform
16,000 housewives supposedly petition the Queen against reform
When is the power to grant divorce given to travelling assize judge?
What’s the issue with this?
1920 Administration Of Justice Act
Assize judge is inexpert
How do divorce rates change over WW2?
Increase from 8,517 in 1939 to 24,857 1945
When is power of divorce given to County Court?
Denning Committee 1946
When is Legal Aid introduced in Britain?
What number of divorces 1966-70 are supported by legal aid
1949 - 65%
When is the Gorrell Commission? What does it find?
1909-1912
Suggests equal grounds, expanded grounds, equality of access, no connection to sexual immorality, decentralised divorce courts
Minority report oppose any extension or reform
Give examples of divorce reform lobbying groups
1906 Divorce Law Union - claim 1,700 members by 1919
Marriage Law Reform Society 1946 - claim 1,400 members
NUSEC very important in 1926
Give examples of where the fear of collusion in divorce is expressed…
Lord Ellenborough (pre 1830)
A.P Herbert - Holy Deadlock
Evelyn War - A Handful of Dust
Who is particularly important in steering 1937 Divorce Act through Parliament?
A.P Herbert
Complete quote ‘the national character is quite as much benefitted by…’
When and by whom?
‘The national character is quite as much benefitted by the patient endurance of hardships as by the loosening the responsibilities of marriage’ - Mothers Union 1912
When is the Morton Commission? What is it response to?
1956 - introduction of Eireen White’s Bill 1951
When does Leo Abse first introduce his bill what does it a
Propose?
1962 - adds 7 years separation to grounds for divorce
Complete quote from Morton Commission ‘increasing disposition to regard divorce…’
‘Increasing disposition to regard divorce, not as the last resort, but as the obvious way out when things go wrong’
Remedy in ‘fostering in the individual the will to do his duty by the Community’
What new policy does the CofE adopt in the 1960s?
Situation ethics
Why is Dean Inge important?
Advocates desertion as grounds for divorce in 1958
When is ‘Putting Asunder’? Give detail…
1966 - come a from group set up by AofC to explore ‘a principle of breakdown of marriage which was free from any trace of the idea of consent’ - recommends divorce by inquest - couple don’t get to judge
When is Blunt vs. Blunt? Give key quote…
1943,
‘Social considerations which make it contrary to public policy to insist on maintenance of a union which has utterly broken down’
When is Cleary vs Cleary? Why is it significant?
1974
The 1969 says breakdown has occurred where respondent had committed adultery and petitioner found it intolerable to live with them
Cleary vs. Cleary denies that there need be any causal link between these things
Which divorce case introduces the idea of ‘constructive desertion’ and when?
What condition does it place on this?
Lang vs Lang (1955) introduces constructive desertion
States husbands behaviour must go beyond ‘ordinary wear and rptear of married life’
What is the significance of Mason vs Mason?
1980 - Husband complains wife’s refusal to have sex with him more than once a week counts as unreasonable behaviour - judge disagrees
Who is the first female member of the law commission and when?
Baroness Hale - 1984
What is the significance of Suggate vs Suggate?
1859 - rules violence against children in the presence of mother is legal cruelty
How does Sir William Scott (18th century) define cruelty?
‘Bodily injury, either actual or menaced’
Complete this quote from Sir William Scott (1790)
‘The suffering party…’
‘The suffering party must bear in some degree the consequences of injudicious connection; must subdue by decent resistance or by prudent conciliation; and if this cannot be done, both must suffer in silence.’
Complete quote ‘High moral offences…’
‘High moral offences in the married state’ don’t count as ‘legal cruelty’
Explain Baker vs. Baker
Baker vs Baker 1863
Mrs. Baker refuses to get out of bed to make her husband and friend coffee when they get home at 4am
Mrs. Baker argues this is unreasonable behaviour
Mr. Baker and Counsel argue wife isn’t fulfilling marital duty
Explain Curtis vs Curtis
Curtis vs. Curtis (1858)
Mr. Curtis’ offence is to undermine his wife’s social status
‘She was treated with great harshness, insulted in the presence of her servant, displaced from her proper position in her house, and rendered subordinate to her own servant’
Explain Smith vs Smith
Husband files for divorce for adultery and desertion, wife counters with intolerable cruelty and domestic violence, both found guilty and neither allowed to leave marriage
Complete quote from Archbishop Lang on abdication crisis
‘Strange and sad…’
‘Strange and sad it is that he should have sought happiness in a manner inconsistent with the Christian principles of marriage’
‘Men have commandeered all the energy…’
‘Men have commandeered all the energy and streamlined it into an aggressive conquistatorial power, reducing all heterosexual behaviour contact to a sadomasochistic pattern’ - Germaine Greer
