key dates

• 1918 - women allowed to vote if they're over 30 years old and own property
• 1918 - Representation of the people act
• 1919 - Sex Disqualification removal act : women could be jurors, magistrates , solicitors etc.
• 1921 - Marie Stopes opened the first birth control clinic in London
• 1941 - National service act : women had to fight / help in the war too ( childless or unmarried widows )
• In the second world war SERVICES women helped with : ATS (army) , code breaking, WAAF ( air force), radio communications, MOTORBIKE MESSENGERS, spies.
• Women were still not allowerd to fight, mostly cook and clean and paperworl
• 100, 000 women worked on railways
• Women could be conscripted for : armed service, civil defense or industry
• Women worked in heavy industry in : engineering firms, iron factories and fighter plane dilivery etc. Some women found it too difficult. Women were still supervised by men and overall outlook on women doing work was negative
• in 1943 there were 181000 uniformed women in the WAAF
• After the WW2 ended, women had to give their jobs to men reluctantly. Pay wasn't equal
• Attitudes to women were still very limiting. They were seen as care takers, subservient for their husbands, no education no work etc.
• In the 60s only 15 % of doctors were women
• It wasn't acceptable for women to work whilst having a child
• People thought women shouldn't have jobs because when women took men's place the work became oversimplified
• Divorces per 1000 people in 1961 was 2.1 and in 1981 it was 11.9 people
• 1975 Sex Discrimination act: made it illegal to discriminate against people on the grounds of sex or marital status. Equal pay
• Since the sex discrimination act of 1975 employers couldn't discriminate on the grounds of sex or marital status unless they employed 5 or fewer people
• THe Sex discrimination act of 1975 established the equal opportunities commission which promoted gender equality
• But the poorly payed women after the sex discrimination act were barely affected by it.
• 1969 Divorce Reform act : couples were allowed to end their marriage after 2 year.
• 1970 Matrimonial proceedings and Property act made divorce easier and awarded women with a greater share of a couple's wealth in the divorce settlement than before.
• The Family Planning Association was set up in 1930 and only offered contraception and advice to married couples
• 1967 Abortion act - abortion was legalised
• 1970 Women's National Liberation Conference in Oxford: demands of equal pay, equal education, career opportunities, and abortion.
• 1972 Magazine: Spare rib. Feminist magazine with 30, 000 readers
• 1974 Women's Aid federation helped develop facilities and support for women who suffered from domestic violence
• 1976 Domestic Violence Act was passed: domestic violence was a criminal offence
• in the 70s, despite women's lib, sexism was still a big problem
• 1970 the Sun newspaper used a topless model in every issue
• Woman or Woman's Realm was focused on primarily traditional gender steriotypes such as fashion, diets, romance and family
• only 10,000 women were active in the women's liberation movement
• Children's toys reinforced gender steriotypes
• Subjects in school were still gendered
• Female sewing machinists at Ford factories went on strike to have their pay regraded. They worked less money than the male cleaners in the factory
• The Strike from the ford factory women was successful. They had the support of their trade union, general public and newspapers.
• Barbara Castle = Labour government's employment minister helped the ford women win higher pay
• 1970-equal pay act
• the 1970 equal pay act was catalysed by the Ford Women Strike and Barbara Castle in 1968