Social developments 1914 - 1939

Question 1

women in war years

Answer 1

• The number of women in full time work rose from 6m in 1914 to 7m in 1918
• by 1918 women made up 1/3 of the total workforce
• many received a pay packet for the first time
• sense of independence and freedom

Question 2

women in post war years

Answer 2

• representative of the peoples act 1918 only extended the vote to female householders over 30
• 1919 sex disqualification act allowed women to serve on juries become magistrates and join most professions
• 1920 oxford uni awarded full degrees to women
• equal franchise act 1928 women got the vote
• many working women returned to their previous jobs with old rates
• middle class women went back to their role in the home
• 1923 equal right of divorce
• 1925 equal custody in divorce
• easier access to contraception

Question 3

unemployment and poverty

Answer 3

• structural unemployment in old staple industries
• new industries did not require manual workers
• depression in the 30s led to long term employment
• Rowentree deduced that the main causes of poverty were low wages and old age

Question 4

real wages and consumerism

Answer 4

• increase in real wages and fall in prices
• surplus spent on new consumer goods
• 1914 76% of wages went towards food and rent but in 1938 this had dropped to 44%
• spending on food rose from £835 million in 1920 to £1 billion in 1938
• £1 billion cinema tickets sold in 1938
• £20 million people went on seaside holidays

Question 5

health

Answer 5

• overall improvement in national health
• life expectancy for babies born in the 1930s were higher
• infant mortality rates fell from 67 per 1000 in 1930 to 61 in 1940
• tuberculosis deaths decreasing
• but no national health service

Question 6

housing

Answer 6

• local authority house building schemes gave working class families the opportunity to move out of poor quality tenements to brand new houses they could rent
• running water, electrical heating and a garden

Question 7

regional divisions

Answer 7

• the previous prosperous north now suffered from unemployment and income dropping
• tyneside employment rose to 77% in 1933
• whilst unemployment in Birmingham was 6%

Question 8

changing attitudes in the 20s and the hungry 30s

Answer 8

• war had broken down class barriers
• death duties and taxation broken down great county estates
• use of contraception amongst the middle class limited family size

Question 9

the growth of the media

Answer 9

• 1922 bbc set up
• 1920 cinema in every town