Women Flashcards
Political and economic advancements 1918-1939
Labour – 15,000 women joined 1918-1924
9 women Lab MPs
1930 – less than 15% of elected councillors
1918 RPA – women 30+ who met the property requirements
1928 – all women 21+ – after various campaigners put pressure on MPs
Women contributed to the 1922 Criminal Law and 1923 Bastardy Acts
Failures
1918 election – only 17 women stood as candidates and only 1 won.
The highest number of female MPs was 15 in 1931.
Impact of WW1 on women’s work
Made considerable gain in the workplace as the entire population was mobilised for war work- auxiliaries, drivers, telephonists, signallers and nurses
1918 over 1 million women in metal and chemistry industries
11,000 women worked to create explosives in Gretna
Overturned a decade later due to harsh economic realities Britain faced in 1918. Wartime employment was only required while the war continued and men returned to their positions
The gov introduced a ‘dilution’ agreement with TU’s in 1914- skilled workers who went to fight in France could be replaced by semi-skilled under 2 conditions- employment only lasted as long as the war, would not be able to profit from the war and not pay higher wages than the men
Women who did work returned to traditional occupations eg. service or clerical work
Women’s work in the interwar years
Working in service, maid, cook or cleaner was the largest source of employment for working-class women
1918-1.25 million women were ‘in service’
Unpopular work and many who experienced it were keen to find other work
Opportunities were limited because of prejudice, lack of educational opportunities and prevailing ideas about what was ‘woman’s work’
1920s clear gender roles in employment- factory work or service if they were working-class or clerical work if they were educated
Clerical work was the biggest growth for female employment in the 20’s- 1921 over 1 million employed as typists, clerks- increased a further 300,000 over 10 years
Sweated labour in the new light manufacturing was the only other opportunity
Much available work was poorly paid
No incentive to offer better rates of pay as the unemployment benefit was lower for women than for men
⅔ of all work done by working-class women was done from home- baking, brewing, sewing combined with household tasks and caring for children
The impact and influence of middle-class women
Suffrage campaign resulted in the 1918 RPA carried out by educated working-class
Many were interested in the franchise being extended to women who owned property
The idea of uneducated working-class women might have a say in the running of the country was only popular among more radical fringes of the suffrage movement
Between the wars, there was gradual improvement in opportunity advancements as universities began to accept women- as a result of the Sex Disqualification Act 1919, preventing the barring from a career in law or the civil service based on gender
Act gave women greater opportunities when applying for work in these fields- some evidence male attitude was changing
1931 - 3,000 female medical practitioners and 180,000 nurses, 21 female architects out of a total of 6,000, 2 structural, 2 civil engineers
Civil service was open to women- more clerical level but no women posted overseas
Teaching was a common career for educated women
Until 1944 they had to leave the profession if they married
1931, 84% of the female workforce was single, divorced or widowed
Married women, were expected to stay at home to be supported by their husbands
The role of women in WW2
Jobs in traditionally male work (replaced men at war)
Women who worked as engineers or in transport rose from 14% in 1939 to 33% in 1945
Triggered desires and aspirations beyond the home - 1950 – 50% of housewives report being bored but some were forced out of work after WW2 but more remained working in comparison to WW1
1951 – 1/4 married women worked - By 1971 half did
More semi-skilled and unskilled jobs due to shifts in labour market
Easier for women to work - 1965 – 60% women working in unskilled work
Economic Advancements 1945-79
The Dagenham Sewing Machinists Strike
Political Advancements 1945-79
Did not progress significantly
The number of female MPs stayed within 20-30
Even formidable female candidates had to fight hard – Thatcher’s 1959 election for Finchley
Women were rarely selected for cabinet with maybe 1 or 2
Family life 1918-39
Primary carers for children, women in the poor parts of the country ate less so their husbands and children could have meals.
With the man being the primary wage earner, mothers were expected to go without food when there was not enough money to provide for everyone
1933 – Hungry England enquiry – sometimes women were starving to feed their families.
Women with poor families often had many children and depended on unemployment relief which after 1934 became means tested – made many live below the poverty line and unable to provide the smallest amount of food for their families.
Personal Freedoms 1939-68
1937 Matrimonial Causes Act- allowed divorce if either partner had been unfaithful, and for desertion after 3 years- widespread public support, backlash from Christianity, divorce petitions rose to 38,000 1951
1936 Abdication crisis- the issue of remarriage- public attitude towards divorce women became very clear, Wallice Simpson was portrayed as scheming+manipulative a gold-digger
Birth control: became an issue of public morality. In 1961 the pill was introduced but doctors were only allowed to prescribe it to married women.
Within a decade, a million women were using demonstrating its popularity
Self-expression
Family life during the Great Depression
Post-war
Isolation of the 50s
Personal Freedoms 1968-79
Birth control -
Abortion -
Marriage -
The Struggle for New Freedoms
Growing Activism: 1970 staged protests at the Miss World Beauty Contest, flower bombing the all-male-judges, the BBC was attacked by the anarchist terrorist group, the competition played in the ‘oppression of women
Rape Crisis Centres: In 1973 first centre opened, and many in workshops revealed their experience of sexual violence and the failure of the legal system, few rape cases went to court and the ones that were conducted in a manner that was highly advantageous to the accused female victims were cross-examined about their own sexual history and made to feel as if they were on trial, within a decade of the first opening a further 60 built across the UK
Refuges for victims of domestic violence: early 70s women activists set up refuges and centres for victims and their children, 1974 the National Women’s Aid Federation was established, uniting over 40 independent women’s refuges into one national body, c was passed, providing courts with the power to impose injunctions on individuals who had assaulted their spouses, resulting in jail terms if they were breached
