Question

1. Question • Do you think that women have achieved equality with men in British society today? • Discuss with your partner and write down 2 reasons why you think women have achieved equality or 2 reasons why you think not. Be prepared to give these reasons to justify your answer.

2. The Changing Role and Status of Women in Britain Since 1900. How important have laws been in achieving equality for women in British Society? Betty Friedan a leading member of the Women’s Lib movement.

3. Key questions In this lesson you will look at two Key Questions. • How important have laws been in achieving equality for women in British society since 1900? • How have attitudes changed towards the position of women in society since 1900?

4. Women at work. Before the First World War, women lived very different lives from those of modern women. Better-off girls did not go out without a chaperone (a female escort); instead many of them stayed at home, instead of going out to work. Only one married woman in ten actually had a job and, of course before 1918 none of them could vote. The First World War changed much of that. Many women had a job for the first time in their lives; it brought them money and independence. Most professions were open to women after 1919; so was higher education.

5. Married women at work. Even so, some jobs were not open to married women before 1939. Most banks for instance, insisted on employing unmarried women. Some wives even went to work with their wedding ring on a chain around their neck so that their boss would not guess.

6. Women get the vote 1918. • The Representation of the People Act 1918 gave the vote to around 9million women. Women who qualified to vote were: • All women over the age of 30 • All women over 21 who were householders or who were married to householders. A householder was someone who owned the family house. In short to vote at 21 a woman had to own a property.

7. Further changes in 1928. This Act expanded the number of women voters – giving equality with men. All women over the age of 21 could vote. In 1919 Lady Astor became the first women Member of Parliament– the Liberal MP. For Richmond.

8. Sisters are doing it for themselves. Women in the 1920s and 1930s now had greater freedom. Public transport and the motor car gave women independence which would have been unthinkable in Victorian times. Yet none of this brought true equality with men. Although more women were working, few of them earned as much as men in the same jobs. In 1963, women in manufacturing jobs earned an average of £8.40 a week. But men were earning an average of £17.29 a week. Margaret Thatcher became Britain’s first and only woman Prime Minister in 1979. An outstanding scientist, she graduated with a first from Cambridge University.

9. Equal Pay Act 1970 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. • The 1970s saw the introduction of two important laws which furthered equality between men and women. • The Equal Pay Act 1970 forced employers to pay equal wages to men and women doing the same job. • The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 tried to ensure that men and women would get equal chances when job hunting. • The Equal Opportunities Commission was set up to deal with complaints of discrimination.

10. Women’s Lib • These changes were partly due to a new movement which began in the late 1960s. • People called it “Women’s Lib”, which is short for liberation. • It was not only a campaign for equal rights but also the way that men treated them.

11. Some male attitudes and reactions. From a speech by Patrick Jenkin a Conservative Minister in 1979.

12. Married Life. In 1900, a husband was usually head of the household. His word was law to both his children and his wife. It took a long time for this attitude to die. Even in 1945, many wives told interviewers that they could not say how they would vote in an election until they heard it from their husbands. Contraception probably brought the greatest change. In 1900, a working class wife married young and often spent 15 years having babies and bringing them up. The contraceptive pill invented in the 1950s, allowed women to choose whether they wanted that sort of life.

13. Careers, contraception and opportunities. So, many women chose to spend just a few years having a family, then they returned to work. By 1961, there were more married women with a job than unmarried women. In the 1970s, free contraception became available on the National Health Service. The start of the Open University in 1971, meant that married women could study for a degree at home, while bringing up their family. Changes such as this meant that women had for more job opportunities than they did in 1900. A woman train driver.

14. “All mod cons.” Appliances to make housework easier.

15. Divorce • Married women gained freedom of another kind too. In 1900 a divorce was expensive and almost impossible for most women. For many there was no way out of an unhappy marriage. A number of laws in the 20th Century made divorce easier. • The Divorce Reform Act 1969, especially tried to make divorce a quicker and less painful affair. It laid down just one ground for divorce – the complete breakdown of marriage, for whatever reason. By the 1980s 1 marriage in 3 ended in divorce and 1 in 8 children lived in a single parent home.

16. Working women: balancing their jobs and the housework! However, many wives found that having a job brought less freedom, not more. Often their husbands still expected them to do all the cooking and housework, on top of doing a full time job. The Women’s Lib movement helped change these attitudes. Surveys showed that more men were helping with housework inn the 1980s. But, although many men were helping with cooking and washing up, cleaning and hand-washing tended to stay “women’s work”.

17. House husbands In a few families, however, husband and wife swapped roles completely. The husband stayed at home to bring up the children and do the housework, while the wife went out to work. Nothing could be more different from people’s attitudes in 1900.