Social policy and social reforms of the IWYs 1918-1939; Flashcards
women
-ROPA-1918-extended vote to women over 30, ratepayers or married to one.
-1919-sex disqualification act-allowed female MPs to stand for parl & enter most jobs & serve on juries.
-but by 1929-only 15 mps in the HoC were female & 1 cabinet member. -traditional attitudes prevailed.
-Baldwin’s equal franchise act -1928-extended voting right to all women, female voters outnumbered male by 2m-flapper vote.
-during WW1-1.7m W worked in industry-armaments, also in govt departments, farms, public transport & medical auxillary units or army nurses-200,000.
BUT male dominated TU’s-suspicious and hostile to female participation in ind - wages would be reduced.
-women received lower wages than male counterparts, apart from textile ind. -only ind. where skilled female work was found so earned same.
-often classified & paid as teenagers in union-negotiated dilution agreements to maintain existing wage levels.
-unions fought for higher ‘fam wage’ earned by male worker -responsible for fams so should earn more.
-continuitity w pre-war period–when men returned from war -restoration of pre-war practices act-dismissed 775,000 women from industry.
-1918 -no. of women in ind-35% but when men came back it reverted back to the pre-war figure of 27% in july 1920.
work in post war period
-by 1931 there were only 750,000 more women in work than 1911.
-growth of women in retail, offices & teaching.
-mainly clerical, service & light ind.
-encouraged independence & opps that were otherwise unavailable.
-informal ‘marriage bar’-in many professions e.g teaching, u had to leave work on marriage.
-work seen as temporary, main aim was caring for fam.
-1931- 69% of workforce under 35yrs old suggesting unmarried.
-m/c professions -v few women -only 116 female solicitors & 3000 doctors.
-tiny proportion went to uni-prejudice.
-domestic service declined after WW1 because of growth of affordable domestic appliances but 1 in 5 households still had one.
-govt training schemes facilitated domestic service -1931-still 1.3M women.
women in the family
-institution of marriage remained strong- got married younger than late victorian equivalents & only 6% ended in divorce.
-huge stigma towards children born out of marriage-faced legal/social discrimination.
-single motherhood
-birth rate declined substantially from 5-6 live births to 2.2. -W now had more time for leisure & work, less time dedicated to childcare.
by 1939 -birth rate -less than 1/2 what it was 50yrs before.
-although there was a decline in fam size there was an increase in the no. of households 8m-1911 to 10m-1931 -increased pressure for housing.
-poor housing-more impact on w/c women who had to spend most of the day living there.
-1918 -Marie Stopes -married love(sex & fam planning) sold 1M copies -readership-m/c.
-N.I health contributions left 15m mainly women and children uncovered-disastrous for health of w.c W.
-Elanor Rathbone introed idea of family allowances-1924-changed the payment from the father to mother.
-all forms of contraception condemned by church, govt & some doctors until late 1930’s, when govt allowed health centres to advise married women risk of health complications from further births.
-abortion-illegal-terrible consequences- 100-150,000 women died every yr from attempted abortions.
-divorce-stigmatised & had to prove adultery, but guardianship of children vested in mother & father jointly.
-law reform act 1935 -empowered married women to dispose of all her property as if she was single.
-life exp of women increased 55-1910 to 66-1938.
-infant morality delined but varied e.g 47 per thousand in SE but 138 in Wigan.
wages and spending
-money wages didn’t decline to desired extent by proponents of gold std. -general strike 1926 impressed employers sufficiently not to cut wages so fiercely & employers-TUC mond turner talks 1928 -understanding between capital & lab: stable wage rates in exchange for reductions in employ.
-declining prices-more than fall in wages, 1929-32 wages dropped by 4% but prices fell by 25%.
-between 1924-35 Real wages increased by 17%.
-cheap cons goods-housing, radios, books, magazines, cinema, cheap clothes, fish & chips, cosmetics holidays, affordable cars, gambling.
-heinz & kellogs-household names
rural workers
-suffered from probs affecting agriculture in IWYs
-prices of B agricultural products tripled during WW1 but in IWYs they fell back to pre-1914 levels & farming-heavily reliant on govt sub to stay afloat.
-income of farmers -up to 1/2 of contemporaries in urban Britain.
-NI only extended to farm workers-1936
-holidays w pay act didn’t cover them
-they experienced worst housing -1937 a narrow definition classified 55,000 rural homes as unfit for human habitation & rural council rents-high.
-arable farming of cereals suffered serious decline in SE
-farmers burdened w debt relied increasingly on fam labour, mechinisation & cut costs -wages & jobs fell, hrs increased
-dull village life -no cinemas/entertainment.
-many farm workers left countryside in search of urban work -25% decline in farm workers 1921-8. -would’ve been higher if there were more urban opps.
education
-fishers act & hadow report -limited by geddes axe & may committe cuts & retrenchment
-fisher -2M educationally qualified children denied places at grammar schls-fees.
-continuation schls for children over 14 wasn’t achieved
-schl age wasn’t raised to 15
-1920s-only 12% of children -education over 14.
-only 0.4% of children educated in elementary schls-uni.
poverty
-Rowntree’s investigations in York-1935 found 31% of the pop-poverty.
-causes-old age, sickeness, low pay, large fams & unemploy.
-but also existed independently of unemployment.
-1/2 of w/cs born in 1936 would live in poverty in 1st part of lives & old age due to fam poverty cycle.
-unemploy- ‘intractable million’1921- 2m, 1929-1.1m & 1933-3m. -underestimated as women often wouldn’t register as unemployed & many declined due to stigma of means test.
-caused emigration from wales to England & out of countryside, exacerbated poverty & poor social conditions. e.g in Jarrow nearly 80% were unemployed at 1 point.
-new ind -all in SE, west & midlands
regional variation -1/2 of m/cs lived in London & SE.
-90% of textile & 75% of steel output -located in 7 counties in north -decline of staple ind-meant these areas disproportionately affected.
-LT unemployed -27% of total unemployed in 1936.
M/Cs
-greatest increase in SoL-greater income, low prices, cheap money. (esp. in S.E).
-1914-1% of pop controlled 69% of wealth, 1920/30s fell to 60% controlled 55%. -greater wealth possessed by m/cs which had spending power to enjoy new consumerism.
-car use grew from 140,000-1914 to over 2 mil.
-growing m/c suburbia
housing
successful housing policies of Addison, Wheatley & greenwood increased supply of council housing- 1 mil built in IWYs & demolished slums. -but council rent remained high as govt subs-inefficient. -needed -weekly income £4 but 78% of fams received less than £4 per wk.
-cons & national govt cut subs & promoted private housing by private builders -accelerated by cheap money-1930s.
-start of IWYs-homes mainly rental -10% owner occupied, by 1939-31% owner occupied.
-end of 1930s -only 4% of homes suffered overcrowding but narrow definition.
-a min of rent controlled slums remained within housing available to workers
consumption and leisure
tobacco -by 1948- 80% of men and 60% of women smoked.
pubs-important relaxation-centres of social intercourse -20% of expenditure on entertainment in IWYs-spent on alc & tobacco.
but beer & spirits taxed from WW1 onwards -made it more expensive -slow decline in pub attendance.
gambling- increased-horse & greyhound racing, football pools. -1930’s the pools stood at £300-500 mil.
-18 mil attended greyhound races at new stadiums e.g walthamstow.
-greater opps for leisure/recreation
-reduction in working hrs to 6 a wk, growth of paid holidays. -over 1 mil had holidays in 1925, 4 mil in 1937.
-holidays with pay act 1938 meant over 11mil benefited from paid holidays in 1939. -in 1920s-only 1.5M paid hols.
-1930s - Blackpool-7M visitors annually, Butlins opened in 1937-promised 1 wks holdiay for 1 wks wages. -200 Butlins holiday camps across country.
-cinema-by 1939-5000 cinemas, main form of w/c entertainment, women usually attended twice a wk-could go unaccompanied by men. -903m admissions to cinemas by 1934.
-increased education -libs issued 54m books in 1911, in 1939-247m.
-daily mail/news of the world sold millions.
-but 16-22% of pop-illiterate
-women’s magazines e.g vogue-1916
-wireless radio-BBC began in 1922, radio liscenses rose from 36,000 in 1922 to 23m in 1939. -mainly informative/educational but some comedy & drama.
-but 3.5M poor households -no access to radio
overall
-all classes suffered losses, econ & staples suffered decline.
-aristocracy-agricultural land declined in value, death duties, domestic servants declined
-m/c rebelled against higher taxes
-w/c-slumps, deflation & unemployment- general strike-1926, crash-1929, perceived threat of communism, ‘hungry thirties’.
BUT- increased consumption/consumerism, relaxation of social, gender & sexual values, new industries, rearmament, new housing-council & normal.
-m/c and u/c experienced great improvements but w/c-80% of pop and many struggled were unemployed and poor, but many experience ISoL.
context
-unemployment key issue - 1 mil unemployed between 1921-38 & 1st 1/2 of 1930’s it never fell below 2mil.
but men more likey to be unemployed than women & regional disparity e.g in london & south-below 10%, but Jarrow-above 60%.
-but large pools of poverty existed independent of unemployment e.g in 1936 in York unemployment only caused 1/3 of secondary poverty.
poor law in IWYs
-remained in place-1929, but after war knew was ineffective for mass unemployment
-ROPA 1918 removed the disqualification of voting that had attached to relief
-ministry of health act 1919 transferred control of it from local govt board to ministry of health, but local admin remained with the board of guardians-played a maj role in relief of unemployed-1920’s but relief depended on region.
Local Government Act 1929 abolished Boards & transferred their powers to local councils who had to appoint a PAC.
-between 1931-35 no. of ppl who received public assistance increased 155,658 to 542,075.
-poor law, ended w Unemployment Act 1934 which replaced the PACs with UAB which set standard–rate payments to eliminate regional variety.
unemployment
national health insurance
free school meals & health inspection
-introed legislation for provision of fsm & milk & medical inspection of children-but were financed by local govt rates & areas with the most need, couldn’t raise the rates-too poor.
-regional disparity
-rhonda in South wales-v poor -2/3 national average-medical inspections, 3 times on FSM & milk
-of a elementary schl pop of 4m+ just under 200,000 received FSM-1939.
-by end of 1930’s over 3 mil children received free milk at school.
old age contributory pensions
-old requirements of pensions were removed e.g ban on payment of pensions to those who were in reciept of outdoor relief.
-widows, orphans & old age contributory pensions act 1925 : contributions were raised from employers & employees & provided a pension of 10s/wk for a worker between 65-70 & £1 a wk for a married couple.
-modest provisions for orphans, widows & children.
-BUT too small- it was estimated u needed 15s/wk to live on, obliged to seek help from PAC/UAB.
-non-contributory scheme remained available at 70 still-subject to means test.
-contributory excluded nearly 1/2 of the relevant age group
-women dependant on husbands insurance status.
-showed how cons govt aware of probs & tried to implement reforms but were limited- still ideas of individualism & retrenchment.
education
-education-wasted decades
-failed to implement fishers education act 1918 & promise to raise schl age to 14 -due to geddes axe & may committee cuts
-govt unwilling to provide enough post-elementary education.
-era of ‘missed opps’ and stagnation esp. in science & tech
-fishers act attracted opp from industrialists, TUs & local authorities fearing a loss of labour & greater responsibility.
-board of education declined to enforce provisions for medical inspection/fsm.
-proposals for nursery & continuation schls failed to survive geddes axe.
-between 1900-10 the no. of 3-5 yr olds in elementary education fell from 40% to 23%.
-children now stayed on for longer (leaving age-12) so they removed provision for younger children.
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-geddes wanted to raise schl entry age from 5 to 6 (failed)
-austerity measures limited speed of improvements to schl buildings.
-govt ignored hadow report-suggested a division between primary & secondary at age 11, w a national exam to decide whether to go to a grammar (uni) or secondary modern schl (work).
-only distinct secondary schls in the period were grammar schls-fisher estimated 2mil of qualified students were excluded from them due to the entrance fees.-govt subsidies for free places-extinguished by austerity.
-only 1 in 10 w/c children -secondary schl compared to 1/2 of m/c.
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