CW22: the Changing Role of Women C1850 C1950

CW22: The Changing Role of Women c1850–c1950

The role and status of women in the economy Content Sources  Different types of work D. Milne Domestic – Poor conditions, preference for factory work Sarah Burstall Factory – 59% of the workforce in the clothing trade in 1891 Helen Martindale Shop – Development of department stores, almost half a million shops in Britain by 1907 Clementia Black Professional – School of Medicine for Women, 77 female barristers by 1927 Emma Smith Business world – Technological inventions, Post Office

 Work during wartime World War One – Women’s War Register, Women’s Land Army, munitions factories, Amalgamated Society of Engineers World War Two – Conscription of women into war work, nurseries at work, Equal Pay Campaign Committee, women in the Armed Forces

 Terms and conditions of employment Requirement for domestic servants to remain unmarried, annual contracts for domestic servants, low wages for women factory workers, 85-hour week for some women shop workers, Shop Hours Regulation Act.

 Setbacks for women Fewer than 10% of married women in paid employment in 1910, unemployment after the war, pre-war Trade Practices Act, no full implementation of the Sex Disqualification Act, return to cult of domesticity after World War Two

Popular pressure (Part A) What was the short-term significance of World War One in bringing about change in women’s role and status?

Individuals (Part A) What was the short-term significance of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson in bringing about change in women’s role and status?

Key legislation (Part A) What was the significance of the Trade Boards Act in bringing about change in women’s role and status?

Women’s changing role in the political system Content Sources  Towards female suffrage Punch magazine Local voting – For single and widowed women who paid rates (1869), then married women (1894) Florence Davenport-Hill Female suffrage – Accidental voting of Lydia Becker (1868), Representation of the People Act (1918), Equal Franchise Act (1928) Emma Sheppard Emmeline Pankhurst  Pressure for change Martin Pugh Attempted suffrage legislation – 1870, 1897, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911 and 1913 Sarah Ann Jackson Impact on national political parties – 1884 Reform Act, Primrose League, Women’s Liberal Federation, National Union of Conservative Associations, Kier Millicent Fawcett Hardie, George Lansbury, Speaker’s Conference Christabel Pankhurst Organisations for political change – NUWSS, WSPU, Women’s Franchise League Sylvia Pankhurst Annie Kenney  Political influence Ray Strachey Impact on local politics – Workhouse Visiting Society (1859), Education Act and School Boards (1870), Local Authorities (1902), Poor Law Guardians Votes for Women (suffragette Impact in Parliament – Intoxicating Liquor Act (1923), Poor Law (Amendment) Act (1937–38), Criminal Law Amendment Act (1951) journal) Political participation – Local Government Act (1894), Constance Gore-Booth, Nancy Astor, Margaret Bondfield, 21 female MPs by 1951 The Lancet ‘Opinions of Leaders of Religious Thought’, published by the Central Society for Women’s Suffrage in 1905 Common Causes (NUWSS) Women’s Franchise League WSPU (Votes for Women and The Suffragette) Dreadnought (Sylvia Pankhurst) John Hassall W. H. Dickinson

Popular pressure (Part A) What was the short-term significance of the NUWSS in bringing about change in women’s role and status?

Individuals (Part A) What was the short-term significance of Christabel Pankhurst in bringing about change in women’s role and status?

Key legislation (Part A) What was the significance of the Local Government Act (1894) in bringing about change in women’s role and status?

Educational opportunities for girls and women Content Sources  Elementary education Ann-Marie Turnbull Education Act (1870), Sandon’s Act (1876) penalised parents who kept their children away from school, elementary education made compulsory in 1880; Dorothea Beale school leaving age fixed at eleven (1893) then raised to twelve (1899) Sarah Sewell

 Secondary education Frances Mary Buss founded the North London Collegiate School for Ladies (1850), Dorothea Beale became principle of Cheltenham Ladies College (1858), Fisher’s School Act (1918) raised school leaving age to 14, Butler’s Education Act (1944)

 University Queen’s College London founded in 1848, Bedford College London founded in 1849; first women’s colleges at Cambridge University in 1869 and 1871; University of London opened its degrees to women in 1878; Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville colleges opened at Oxford University in 1878; Sex Disqualification Act (1919); almost a third of undergraduates female by 1950.

 Study of medicine Elizabeth Garrett Anderson becomes first woman on Medical Register (1865), Enabling Bill (1876)

 Increasing opportunities for poorer girls School’s Enquiry Commission set up to investigate the education of children from middle-class homes (1864), Girl’s Public Day School Company (1870); education made free in elementary schools (1891), free school meals introduced (1906), free medical inspections and free places in secondary school for the children of the poor (both 1907), scholarships to help clever pupils from poorer backgrounds go to secondary schools (1907)

 Life at school for girls Principles of running a household, academic achievement; biased curriculum remains after Butler’s Education Act

Popular pressure (Part A) What was the short-term significance of the School’s Enquiry Commission in bringing about change in women’s role and status?

Individuals (Part A) What was the short-term significance of Frances Mary Buss in bringing about change in women’s role and status?

Key legislation (Part A) What was the significance of the Education Act (1944) in bringing about change in women’s role and status?

The changing domestic role of women Content Sources  ‘Angel in the house’ George Elgar Hicks Domesticity, annulment/divorce, adverse reaction to ‘angel in the house’ view, different consequences for married and unmarried women Lord Tennyson John Ruskin  ‘Separate spheres’ Isabella Beeton Limited work, domestic service Florence Nightingale Margaretta Gregg  Unfair treatment by the state Lord Shaftesbury Adultery, case of Caroline Norton, Contagious Diseases Acts (1864, 1866, 1869) Henry Broadhurst Lord Chancellor Cranworth  Reforming legislation or judicial rulings Professor Graveson Custody of Children Act (1839), Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act (1857), Married Women’s Property Acts (1870 and 1882), Matrimonial Causes Act William Blackstone (1884), independent legal status granted (1884), Guardianship of Infants Act (1886), Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act (1886), Married Women’s Caroline Norton Maintenance Act (1922), Infanticide Act (1922), Matrimonial Causes Act (1923), Bastardy Act (1923), Guardianship of Infants Act (1925), Widows, Howard Vincent Orphans and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act (1925) Hippolyte Taine William Acton  Reaction to the Second World War Josephine Butler Beveridge Report’s assumptions, Family Allowances Act (1945), role of advertising in cult of domesticity

Popular pressure (Part A) What was the short-term significance of the concept of the ‘angel in the house’ in bringing about change in women’s role and status?

Individuals (Part A) What was the short-term significance of Caroline Norton in bringing about change in women’s role and status?

Key legislation (Part A) What was the significance of the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act (1886) in bringing about change in women’s role and status?

Popular pressure (Part B) Assess the significance of popular pressure in bringing about change to the role and status of women in the years 1850–1950.

Individuals (Part B) Assess the significance of the role of individuals in bringing about change to the role and status of women in the years 1850–1950.

Key legislation (Part B) In considering the process of change in the role and status of women 1850–1950, how far can the Representation of the People Act (1918) be seen as a turning point?

Causes of change Intelligent middle-class women Bored women Key individuals Pamphlet writing Political support from MPs Parliament Judiciary Pressure groups Influencing election results Labour Party Reform Acts Private Members’ Bills Suffragists Suffragettes Press attention and support Militancy (Black Friday, hunger strikes) Martyrdom Support of members of the government (Lloyd George) Primrose League Trade union support Religious support Press support World War One World War Two Lack of political concern International trends Political factors Technological inventions Female trade unionism