A History Of Modern Britain

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

The woman is a figure that, historically, has been degraded by man. Men exerted and exert, to a lesser extent, an absolute power over women. The advances that women has achieved since the beginning of the history are numerous and important, but not sufficient. The figure for women has always been the submissive housewife and faithful. The feminist struggle to change that image and the achievements that they have obtained are more than a few.

This essay has been done to deal an important issue in the history of the English woman. This is focused on a moment in history that was a milestone in the life of women. The essay covers the rights of women before and after the First World War, and of course, the rights during the war. Inside these three stages, it will be discus the role of women in different contexts such in family, society, work…

In the period before the war, married women had serious problems to find work and if they found they received accusation, and moreover, low wages. Against these facts, some movements of the Trade Union arose, to act against the laws which protected that work was only for men, and to fight for the respect of the married women workers’ right. Nevertheless this situation changed in the war period, because of young men into the forces. This made improve the situation of the women’s work. They started to work in trades which had been leaved by men. But the wages followed been lows. On the other hand, in the ages after the war, the situation changed again, and women were dismissed, because of men went back to their trades, consequently they worked in the lowest-works. As well, there were conflicts between single women and widows, and married women because of the first group defended that married women should not work and stay at home.

Two decades before the war, there was not much women working [1] . The information given by the census data shows, that the typical married women did not have any job outside the home. But the figures found in the census before 1911 did not detach the female labour force by civil status. Nevertheless, between 1911 and the Second World War, figures shown, that only 10 per cent of married women worked. However, this census did not include the unpaid household work, and the part-time work [2] . Mining communities were plentiful but they were not places where women could work, so they found more work in textile industries. The fact that some workers were married women was an issue that brought much controversy. Many people argued over whether married women should work or not. Social workers affirmed that women who were married and worked neglected their children. Even a great concern emerged on this issue that employment could significantly contribute to an increase in the mortality rate of children [3] . They wages were low, 9s. 9d. in the linen and silk trades, 9s. 8d. in the printing trade, and 8s. 6d. in the glass trade.

The movement for women’s Trade Unions gave hopes to the women. Because of this Emma Paterson started the Women’s Trade Union League in 1874 [4] . And by 1906, 167,000 women were in the Trade unions [5] . Feminist such Josephine Butler, Mrs. M.G. Fawcett, rebelled against protective legislation because they thought that this protected work for men and women was sent to the lowest paid jobs [6] . From 1833, the hours of women’s work was restricted by the protective legislation. The law went hard when it referring to more physical works [7] . During the twentieth century, the law was based on the protection of the needs of married women who devoted their time to home and family, while the law of the prohibition of the women’s work was not successful [8] . Rights of the working-class wife were not obeyed and laws concerning to the rights of women were not important [9] . If women wanted to ask his husband for a divorce, they would have to comply with the following conditions: to leave her house, taking her children with her and find another room to live. Furthermore, they furniture belonged to the husband according to the law the property of their husband. Nevertheless it was difficult for women to receive regular maintenance payments in spite of the fact they accomplished this conditions [10] . At the time of purchase a matrimonial home, separation of goods has caused enough trouble getting to be constituted as a legal principle. Women were denied the legal right to obtain their home if it was registered in the husband’s name. Other laws were the law of family maintenance, which gave to the married woman the right to be maintained by her husband, and also the social-security law [11] .

The working-class was between the respectable and the rough. According to S. Meacham, ‘respectability meant the effort to maintain certain standards and the determination not to let things slide’ [12] . That is why, a mother, when her wages increased, tried to move to another neighbourhood more respectable in which raise her children [13] . In the working-class family, the central position was occupied by women. For those women, home was their home in which they grow up, the home were women lived before their marriage, and also, it can be the home which she is building as wife and mother. This position of women in the family never changed, if the mother died the daughter occupied her place [14] . In this period, the literature established the place of the working-class mother, not only as central position of the family in the household but as owner of a life of drudgery, giving up their independence and all the pleasures as a single woman [15] . Another reason for marriage, leaving aside the convenience and convention, was pregnancy. The success of the marriage depended on the closeness of the relatives of the woman. If she lived close by female families, she could spend time in her mother’s house, but if she lived in a new neighbourhood she could not socialize and her life would be subordination of the life of her husband. The change of women in work, suffered in the society in the nineteenth century, dropped from domestic service to industrial production, increased the dependence of women on their husband. In spite of this, the most of working-class families was dominated by father, but the central position was the mother [16] . The working-class wife was the person who struggled to maintain her family, pawned her possessions to earn more money or asked for a credit [17] . About food, the first servings were all men. They consumed the main meal, and when they finished, women ate [18] . Undoubtedly one of the acts that receive a great importance in the daily life of women in the working-class is the weekly cleaning of their house. They realize this job with the help of few tools to do their job easier bearable, but with the desire to prove to them that they can improve and do their tasks with a desire and a fanatical determination [19] . In working-class marriage, women read with a frequency considerably lower with respect to her husband. This happened because of all the work women must do during the day. And it prevented her from enjoying free time to sit and read a book quietly, without having to attend to tasks [20] .

During September 1914, a huge number of women were dismissed. The demand for luxury fell and in the dressmaking and jewellery trades, many women lost their jobs. To avoid the poor life and charity, the Central Committee for Women’s Employment provide work and subsistence for unemployed women. However, this situation changed by the end of 1914, because of the enlistment of a million of young men into the forces. This made improve the situation of the women’s work. Apart from the works always filled by women, trades traditionally occupied by men, like transport, shipbuilding, munitions, were filled by women taking the place of fathers, husbands or brothers. Nevertheless, women cannot advance more because of the Trade-union’s fear that these changes were prejudicial to their wage levels. [21] These changes in work gave to women the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities to realize skilled work, and it provoked that skilled male workers were no longer immune from military conscription. By 1917, traditional jobs for women decreased the work hours to women did not try to find another job with higher wages. The role of the women was changing, some married women, who had previous experience in industry, had to return to work by necessity. But many of these works, once the war was over, was return to men, that is why in 1918, women were laid off [22] . Also in munitions industries, girls replaced the older women. Attitudes to women workers was negative, because they were a threat to the skilled men, the male employees did not trust the promises that once the war was over, they would return to their post. Also, Trade-union had different attitudes, societies such as the Amalgamated Society of Engineers or the representing Lancashire cotton spinners did not admit women as members, but on the other hand, the Workers’ Union or the National Union of Railwaymen, employed women for the first time [23] . The independent of the women in the labour world and their increase of opportunities in work were due to the First World War [24] .

This increase of the labour demands made that the pay of women in traditionally works improved. There was discrimination in women’s pay, only the women who had fully-skilled trades had equal wages to men. They had to be paid the same wage as the youth men, according to the Engineering Employers Federation, and this situation did not change although there was some progress in the fight for the same rights [25] . The war was noticed in the activities of the government of that time in maintaining income in many ways. Casualties that were happening triggered a significant increase in inflation or pay for disable persons, widows and orphans and also forced the creation of a Ministry of Pensions in 1916. That inflation caused an increase in the rates of return. An example is the increase in health insurance increased by a 50 per cent for men with a total of 15s. (75p) a week and a bit more respect for women that rose a 60 per cent to 12s. (60p) a week, but this increase was not enough because the cost of living was higher. Nevertheless the earnings of them improved from £160 to £250 a year.

In this period, there were some changes in the society and in the relation between women and men. The main factor was the fact that men had to leave their families to conscript into the forces while women had to work to keep their homes. That fact made the authority of men decreased [26] .

At the end of the war, there were some changes in the British electoral system. The total number of electors or person entitle to vote, noticeably increased to become twenty-one million from eight million people. That was due to the expansion of the electorate, including all men exceeded the age of majority, which was then located at twenty-one years old, and a total of six million women, which had to have the followings characteristics: being over thirty years old and they had to be either householder or being married to a householder, also was included the women married with university graduates. Other change in British politics was that women could stand for Parliament because of a separate legislation. It is easy to see that the war was not far from the trigger at the change of thought and facts on the issue of political rights for women. A topic, that makes it see the little change when treating women as second-class in the society, was the restrictions suffered by women when voting, coinciding in comparison to the attitudes that male members of the forcer received and the retention of the votes of the members of the auxiliary services under the age of thirty. In spite of the fact all this changes were debated and the war give the opportunity to realize it, the war was not the cause of the changes [27] .

After the First World War, it developed a huge increase in the employment of women, but this rise only was for a few years after the war. Men come back to their jobs which they had left to go to fight and they occupied their positions in which women worked. As a result, there was demobilization, and it aggravated women’s employment position. With the war, women had left the domestic service and after the demobilization, they started to work in offices and shops, although they were not well-paid. Thus, the aftermath of the war was only an insignificant development of the women’s role in the work, only married women can occupy a position, and women were a reserve of labour in low paid jobs. During the 1920s, the law went hard and the working woman was prevented from marrying [28] . The General Report of the 1921Census showed that women were left with the lowest works [29] . In 1919 there was a problem for the Ministry of Labour, there was a feeling against women and the return of soldiers led to increased demand for domestic work for women. During the 1920s and 1930s, all women who apply to collect unemployment were offered a different domestic work and training grant administered by the Central Committee [30] .

On the other hand, the women’s political gains, although they were limited, are still intact [31] . Workers belonging to the government feared that the war affected women’s reproductive systems, thus in 1919, the Women’s Employment Committee of the Ministry of Reconstruction, was created to help find work for women after the war period, made know the hope that mothers will be at home [32] . At the end of 1919, the creation of a State Register of Nurses was carried out. With this, finally, the nursing got to be recognized, for the first time in history, as a profession as we know it today. And the full and complete release was finally reached when all the women who were over 21 years old were given the right to express ideals by voting [33] . The Open door Council, established in 1926 and which fought for equal economic opportunities for women, asked for the freedom which corresponded to women to work in identical conditions as men, and knew how to react when the government wanted to limit women’s opportunities regarding work, above all when it wanted to deny that a the woman worker had a need or needs that were different from men [34] . Women were divided into two camps, widows and single women, and working wives, demanding the right of work. There were several points of view, Isobel M Pazzey thought that husbands should not allow their women to work and send them home to clean and care for their children and, in this way, give the job to widows and unmarried. In 1921a resolution to prohibit that married women could work was passed and that was in effect until 1946. Also medical students that were accepted in hospital during the First World War, were turned down in the 1920s. Teachers also were against female teachers and campaigned against it [35] .

Women have always been in the shade of men. History shows how women have fought for their rights, and how these rights have improved. Before the First World War, women’s work was limited to home, the fact that women worked was not very well looked upon. Although with the First World War, the situation changed of necessity. The roles changed, men went to war, and women to work to maintain the family. Sadly, this advance stopped with the end of the war. And the society came back to the old thoughts. Since a woman contracted marriage, automatically, she was treated differently to the rest when it is time to policy making, it was totally independent of if women had or not children. Supposedly, married woman saw limited her life and working day to home. This particular point of view is very well reflected with the prohibition of marriage, but the adjustment widow women and working mothers was also difficult.

As history shows, although women have achieved the right of vote, the right of work, and independence of the men, they still have to struggle to remove the persistent gender discrimination in the history and obtain this dream of equality.

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