Society in the 1970s - Early Race Relations + Feminsim Flashcards
Callaghan and Social Policy
When was the Race relations act and what did it do?
- 1976
- made discrimination unlawful in employment, training, education and provision in goods and services
- made it an offence to stir up racial hatred
- New body, the Race Relations Commision
- passed by all party support
How was there continuity with the race relations act?
- racist attacks and discrimination still continued and blacks huddled in ghetto areas like Brixton and Southall
- Public attitudes were slower to change than laws
Why were there racial tensions in the 1970s and 80s between black people and the police?
- Attitudes within the police similar to the National Front
- resented the Race Relations legislation
What were the ‘Sus’ laws?
- A 19th Century vagrancy law which allowed police to arrest people they suspected of crimes
- police often used this to arrest black people as no evidence required
- Over 50% of the people arrested by the ‘sus’ law were black
How did black people respond to the ‘sus’ laws?
- ‘scap sus’ campaign which drew together every element within the immigrant population with remarkable unity.
- ‘The Black Parent Movement’ response to Police Brutality towards black children in London
- law abolished decade later after fierce campaign
When was the first women’s liberation meeting?
- 1970
- Women liberation groups set up all over the country
When did splits begin to show in the Women’s liberation movement ?
- became increasingly politicised in the 1970s
- When the first National Women’s Liberation march took place in London 1971 already signs of division
What did the Radical Separatists want?
- demanded feminism based on lesbian relationships
- In 1971 the first Gay Pride march had been held in London and a lesbian march took place soon after
- many other women insisted on a less radical feminism
What were the Socialist feminists?
- identified a clearer class dimension to women’s equality
- campaigned on issues that would enable women to achieve financial independence
Feminist demonstration at miss world contest? when and what?
- 1970 Miss World Contest - Women’s lib groups organised to disrupt the contest because they felt it objectified women
- host Bob Hope was heckled and protesters threw stink bombs onto the stage
Feminist demonstrations?
- Women’s lib organised demonstrations in both London and Liverpool in march 1971 demanding equal pay for women and free 24 hour nurseries
What were advancements in Women’s literature?
- Women’s writing became an established literature genre with publishers such as Virago
- Shrew and Spare Rib magazines supported the liberation movement focusing debate on feminist issues
- In 1972 Cosmopolitan arrived from the USA also dealing with abortion, sexuality etc
- Departments of Women’s Studies opened in universities
How did Reproductive rights change?
- birth control pill available since 1960s but its use became much more widespread once it became available on the NHS in 1971
What act was passed in relation to Domestic Violence?
What other change in relation to the safety of women? Similar vibes *
- The Domestic Violence and Matrimonial Proceedings Act made it easier for women to gain protection from violent husbands
- By 1973 3,000 applied for injunctions
- First rape crisis centre opened in London 1976
- In 1977 the first Reclaim the Night marches were held across Britain in response to the Yorkshire Ripper murders
How did attitudes to sex and marriage change?
- Sex outside of marriage continued to increase however 77% thought that marriage was not old fashioned nor obsolete
- only 1 in 10 preferred living together to marriage
- N of first marriages in decline
- divorce rate rising slowly - more range of options
What acts were passed in relation to women’s rights? 4
- The Sex Discrimination Act 1975
- The Equal Pay Act 1970
- Social Security Act 1975
- Employment Protection Act 1975
What was the sex discrimination act + when?
- 1975
- Made it unlawful to discriminate on grounds of sex or marital status in the field of employment, provision of educational facilities, housing goods and services
- advertisement in these areas
- equal opportunities commission created
- difficult to prove
What was the equal pay act and when?
- 1970
- not wholly successful
- became operative in 1975 same year of sex discrimination act
What was the social security act and when?
- 1975
- Barbara Castle steered through a State Earnings Related Pension Scheme which became more generous to women whose contributions had been limited by caring responsibilities
What was the employments protection act and when?
- 1975
- Introduced paid maternity leave and outlawed dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy
What was the overall success of the acts passed by the government in relation to women?
- Women had access to levels of economic independence that were unimaginable in previous generations
- Women’s earnings as a proportions of men’s had grown from 63% in 1970 to 73% in 1980
What were the limitations of acts passed by the government in relation to women?
- There continued to be inequalities
- Trade Unions still tended to be dominated by men
- Belief women in workplace = suppress wages for men
- Not until 1979 the TUC published a charter - Equality For Women Within Trade Unions -
- The Equal Pay Act did not solve all problems and employers could get around it
