Women

Question 1

What do Mass Observation say about women?

Answer 1

• Mass Observation surveys tend to reinforce the fact that war work was seen as a temporary phenomenon and that women expected to return to their more traditional roles in society once the war ended.

Question 2

What did women gain through WWII?

Answer 2

Many women gained the ability to work in ‘new to them’ jobs and the range of jobs they gained was shipbuilding, heavy engineering munitions and on the land (such as farming.)

Question 3

What did employers do to help women?

Answer 3

• Some employers went as far as to increase wages of women to the level of men in non-skilled jobs and there was an increase of female membership in trade unions.

Question 4

What did the Butler Education Act do?

Answer 4

• The 1944 Butler Education Act reinforced the notion of training for motherhood as a substantial part of education for those who failed the 11+ test in Scotland.

Question 5

What increased during and post-war?

Answer 5

• Marriage Rates increased post-war and during the war and so too did the baby boom, this suggests a significant return to domesticity and motherhood as women’s primary preoccupation.

Question 6

What did the Family Allowances Act do for mothers?

Answer 6

• The Family Allowances Act was a ‘reward’ for childbearing and making the retrieval of missed national insurance contributions for women who took time out to have children more difficult than for men who returned to work after a break

Question 7

How many women were registered for work and was this full or part time?

Answer 7

• By 1942, 10 million women aged 19-50 were registered for work, specifically 7.5 million were full-time and 800,000 were part-time.

Question 8

Was there still opposition towards women?

Answer 8

• There was still massive Trade Union opposition to members who were women and for women who were in skilled occupations.

Question 9

How many women were employed in the Land Army?

Answer 9

• Between June 1939 and November 1950, 200,000 women were employed in the Land Army

Question 10

What does Arthur Marwick believe?

Answer 10

• War had a profound social impact and that its effects were to be felt long after its conclusion.

Question 11

What does Harold L Smith argue?

Answer 11

• Dubious about the war having a lasting impact

Question 12

What does Peter Hennessy argue?

Answer 12

• Women were more influenced by the community in which they lived with regard to their expectations on life and that the prevailing norm of the 50’s was a return to domesticity and motherhood.

Question 13

What does Penny Summerfield argue?

Answer 13

• Emphasises the limited extent of war-time changes and also the temporary nature of the many changes that did occur.

Question 14

What does Titmuss argue?

Answer 14

• The war had a profound improvement on women positions and this had a prolonged effect into the later 20th century.