How Far Did the Economic and Political Status of Women Improve, 1918-1945? Flashcards
Political Advancement
ROPA 1918
1918 - Enfranchised women over 30 if married, property owner, university graduate
Women 43% of total electorate in December 1918 election
Political Advancement
ROPA 1928
1928 - Right to vote on equal terms with men, product of NUSEC campaigning
March of 3,500 women in Hyde Park July 1926
Political Advancement
Continued Inequality
Female MPs never above 5%, peaked at 15 in 1931
Faced prejudice, e.g not allowed to use commons dining room
Only 24 by 1945
Political Advancement
Significant Successes
Criminal Law Amendment Act (1922) - age of consent raised from 13 to 16
Bastardy Act (1923) - children born outside of marriage legitimate of parents marry later
Political Advancement
National Impact
Women had little impact on national agenda
House of Commons ‘like a boys school’
Political Advancement
Labour Party
Over 150,000 women joined 1920s, 9 women served as MPs, 4 appointed to National Excetutive Committee
But not willing to risk safe seats on female candidates
Political Advancement
Significant Figures
1939 - MPs Nancy Atsor and Eleanor Rathbone, parliamentary experience
Addressed women’s issues, cross-party co-operation
1940 - Astor estalished the Women Power Committee to manage female participation in war effort
Political Advancement
Local Politics
Women more influential at a local level
1945, 15% local councillors women
Local issues seen as extension of domestic role
Economic Advancement
WW1
1914 - 3.3 mil in industry, 200,000 in metal + chemical industries
1918 - 4.8 mil, 1 mil in metal +chem
But dilution agreement, women lost jobs post-war
By 1920, employment returned to pre-war levels
Economic Advancement
Inter-War Years - Working Class
Return to traditional attitudes
Majority were maids, cooks, cleaners - 1.25 mil ‘in service’
Opportunities limited by prejudice, discrimination
Women in ‘sweated trades’, over 2/3 women’s work carried out in home
Economic Advancement
Inter-War Years - Middle Class
Considerable improvements
Universities accept women
Sex Disqualification Act (1919) prevented barring of career in law or civil service based on gender - 1922 Ivy Williams first woman called to ‘English Barr’
Clerical work - over 1.3 mil typists or clerks by 1930
Economic Advancement
WW2
1939 - 14% employed women in chem, engineering or transport
1945 - 33% + 80,000 employed in agriculture
Higher wages + senior positions
Economic Advancement
Post WW2
Women expected to return to trad roles
Those remaining in employment in ‘appropriate’ fields, lower wages than men
1944 - marriage bar removed from teaching, but remained in civil service, banking, legal profession
1950 - 86% employed women in nursing, teaching, factory work, waitressing
Family Life and Individual Freedoms
Divorce
By 1918 - divorce only in cases of adultery or violence
1937 - Matrimonial Causes Act, divorce if seperated for 3 years, or if marital rape
Opposed by church, but support from public
1930s - 4,800 applications a year, 1951 - 38,000
Family Life and Individual Freedoms
Birth Control
1921 - Dr Marie Stopes founded first ‘Stopes Clinic’ (birth control)
Spread over the country in 1920s
Only available to upper + middle class women
Family Life and Individual Freedoms
Birth Control - Opposition
Church opposed - ‘filthy’ and ‘unnatural’
1927 - Lab voted against resolution at conference allowing local authority bc funding
1930 - CofE withdrew opposition, General Medical Council allowed contraceptive advice for married couples only
Family Life
1920s
Women primary caregivers for children
Place ‘in the home’
Some women experienced freedoms - flapper girls - most experienced little change
Family Life
1930s
Great Depression
1933 - Hungry England inquiry, A.L. Bowley, women starving themselves to feed family
Reliant on means tested relief (1934), large families common in East End (London) + industrial centres in the North
Family Life
1940s+50s
Majority involved in war effort
Many deeply disappointed by return to traditional role
By 1950s, 60% women not content with lives at home, bored + frustrated
Change in attitudes
