Theme 3 - Women Flashcards
What was the political status of women just after WW1?
- WW1 influenced the development of women’s rights in the 20th century
- Representation of the people Act gave vote to women over 30
- Education Act 1918 widened opportunities for girls and women
What political advancements did women achieve in the 1920’s?
- First female cabinet minister in 1920’s, heavily influenced intro of family allowance
- 1928 Representation of people act gave women over 21 right to vote (equal as men)
What was the status of the female role after WW1?
- Many people noted that women were able to have a role in the workplace
- Started to earn their own money
- Increase in electricity and the first birth control clinics meant that married women could have some control over fertility
What changes did women experience in family life during the 1920’s?
- Unemployment benefits extended to include wives in 1921
- 1923 matrimonial causes bill is passed allowing wife to get divorce on account of husbands having an affair
What changes In family life did women experience in the 1930’s?
- Marriage rates rapidly increased
- 1937 matrimonial causes act extended bill of 1923 allowing women to get divorce on accounts of abuse
What was the status of women in society after WW1?
- WW1 opened up many employment opportunities but many women had to return to normal life after the war as cooks, cleaners and maids
- New fashions (flappers) liberated women from conservative corsets and long skirts
What was the status of women in society between 1920-40?
- Oxford opens its degrees to women in 1921
- six point group founded 1921
- Groups such as NUWSS represented women
- Clerical work greatly increased for women as more and more women became educated
- Women’s movement in decline after Representation of people act II gave them equal voting rights in 1928 and the depression hurt many
What changes did women experience during and just after WW2?
- 1945 family allowance act
- WW2 had similar effects to WW1. 7.25 million were employed in industry, agriculture and the armed forces by 1943
- Women’s land army introduced
- Unlike WW1 many women retained jobs when war ended
- Women who didn’t retain jobs got annoyed to go back to homes.
- War revived women’s movement
What was the status of women in society between 1950-70?
- Equal pay awarded in 50’s for female teachers and civil servants
- 1970 equal pay act
- women’s liberation movement met for the first time in the 60’s
- Abortion legalised (1967) and pill introduced (1961)
- 1970’s era of feminism and in 1971 4000 women took part in March in London
What progress was made in terms of sexual discrimination during 1918-79?
- 1921 sexual disqualification act allowed first women to be qualified as lawyers, civil servants, vets and engineers
- sex discrimination act (1975) made it illegal to discriminate against women in the workplace
- Equal opportunities commission (1976) to oversee sex discrimination and equal pay acts
- gave women equal pay for equal work and allowed women to retire at same age as men
What marked the major shift in British society during the 1960s–70s?
The second-wave feminist movement challenged gender inequality in law, work, and culture.
What was the Equal Pay Act and when was it enacted?
The Equal Pay Act was enacted in 1970 and aimed to narrow the gender pay gap.
It was spurred by the Ford sewing machinists’ strike in 1968.
What did the Sex Discrimination Act (1975) achieve?
It made workplace discrimination illegal and led to the establishment of the Equal Opportunities Commission.
What was the significance of the Contraceptive Pill introduced in 1961?
It gave women reproductive control, reducing unplanned pregnancies.
What change did the Divorce Reform Act (1969) bring?
It made divorce easier, ending the concept of ‘matrimonial prisons.’
What was the Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM)?
The WLM in the 1970s demanded equal pay, education, childcare, and abortion rights.
What was the Miss World Protest of 1970?
Feminists threw flour bombs at the pageant to protest against the objectification of women.
What was the focus of the Greenham Common Protests?
It was an anti-nuclear movement that highlighted feminist pacifism.
What did Germaine Greer’s book The Female Eunuch critique?
It critiqued patriarchal oppression in society.
The book was published in 1970.
What cultural shift occurred regarding women’s education and careers?
What was a limitation?
More women entered universities and professions - 1963 Robbins Report.
though a ‘glass ceiling’ persisted in male-dominated fields.
What were some positive changes brought by feminism in the 1960s–70s?
Legal equality, workplace rights, cultural awareness, and personal freedom.
What limitations and backlash did feminism face?
Incomplete equality, class divide, and ridicule through ‘bra-burning’ myths.
What is the focus of third-wave feminism?
1990-2000s
It built on 1970s gains and focused on intersectionality.
Night Cleaners Campaign 1972
Fought for low paid women’s rights.
Positive Changes
- Legal equality
- Workplace rights
- Cultural awareness
- Personal freedom
Negative Changes
- Incomplete equality
- Class divide
- Backlash
✅ Legal equality – Anti-discrimination laws, abortion rights (1967 Abortion Act).
✅ Workplace rights – More women in paid work (though often part-time).
✅ Cultural awareness – Challenged sexist stereotypes in media.
✅ Personal freedom – Sexual liberation, divorce rights, contraception access.
❌ Incomplete equality – Pay gap persisted, childcare remained expensive.
❌ Class divide – Middle-class women benefited most.
❌ Backlash – “Bra-burning” myths used to ridicule feminists.
Fill in the blank:
- 1950: ___% ownership.
- 1970: Over __ of homes.
- 1950: 15% ownership.
- 1970: Over 75% of homes.
