Women / Sex 1964-70

Question 1

How liberal were the banks in relation to women?

Answer 1

Not at all
Could refuse to issue a credit card to an unmarried woman, and if she was married, her husband had to co-sign
This would only change in 1975

Question 2

What happened (political) in 1969?

Answer 2

The Women’s National Coordination Committee unified various women’s organisations, forming the Women’s Liberation Movement

Question 3

What happened in Miss World contest 1970?

Answer 3

Nov 1970 in Royal Albert Hall
Women’s campaigning groups manage to crash it
Threw flour and smoke bombs on stage
Held up banners (“We’re Not Just Breasts” and “Women’s Liberation”)
Received global media attention + sparked debates
More people watched this unfold than the World Cup

Question 4

What happened to the number of female MPs in 1970? (Labour)

Answer 4

Went down relative to the conservatives (!)

Question 5

Describe the Divorce Reform Act

Answer 5

1969
Allowed for ‘no fault divorce’ following an ‘irretrievable breakdown’ of marriage
Stats: 2/1000 divorce in 1950
10/1000 divorce in 1975
However, it was still difficult for divorced women (esp with children) to remarry

Question 6

What percentage of students in higher education were women?

Answer 6

28%

Question 7

What percentage of MPs between 1964-80 were women?

Answer 7

Always below 5%

Question 8

What jobs did women mainly get?

Answer 8

Low-paid clerical jobs

Question 9

How did less affluent classes of women use to live?

Answer 9

Left school early and married young

Question 10

Which act was passed in 1970?

Answer 10

Equal Pay Act

Question 11

What were some limitations of the Equal Pay Act?

Answer 11

Only really came into effect in 1975, pay gap persisted (women’s wages = 60% men’s)
The act did not address the issue of equal promotion

Question 12

What percentage of women were in managerial positions by 1970?

Answer 12

5%

Question 13

Describe the first national Women’s Liberation conference

Answer 13

Held at Ruskin College, Oxford (1970)
Discussed 4 demands:
1) equal pay
2) free contraception / abortion
3) equal jobs / education opportunities
4) free 24-hour child care
Gave the movement a broad set of goals

HOWEVER only 2/400 women were black
Gerlin Bean wanted to start a black women’s group because “the problems of black women are different. Very different”

Question 14

Describe the Abortion Act

Answer 14

1967
Pre-1967: only legal if mother’s life is threatened etc
Post-1967: up to 28 weeks, written consent from 2 doctors, ‘mental suffering’ = reason
Stats: 35,000 in 1968 (+ pre-1967 = 100,000 to 200,000 illegal)
141,000 in 1975

Question 15

Describe the Matrimonial Property Act

Answer 15

1970
In case of divorce, a woman’s housework can be taken into account in a settlement

Question 16

What are some feminist groups and writers that have emerged from the UK?

Answer 16

Greer and Mitchell

Question 17

Describe the Family Planning Act

Answer 17

1967
Allowed for local government to provide contraception without a medical justification
Included unmarried couples

Question 18

1970 job situation for women

Answer 18

No shortage of jobs

Question 19

What was the percentage of extramarital births 1960 vs 1970?

Answer 19

5.8% in 1960
8.2% in 1970

Question 20

Men vs women wage disparity by 1976

Answer 20

In manual jobs (eg textiles industry), a man would make £68 a week, but women only made £40 for the same work

Question 21

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in the UK 1961 vs 1977

Answer 21

2.8 births per woman in 1961
1.69 births per woman in 1977

Question 22

Describe the conditions / trigger of the Ford Dagenham strike

Answer 22

1968 in Ford Motor Company’s Dagenham plant (East London)
Triggered by women’s work being classified one grade lower than men’s (B-unskilled as opposed to C-semi-skilled), which resulted in a 20% wage disparity
850/55,000 workers were women (primarily sewing seat covers)

Question 23

How did the Ford Dagenham strike happen?

Answer 23

The women walked out on 7 June 1968
Length: 3 weeks
Financial cost: £8 million (= severe halt in production, public debate on pay equality)
Barbara Castle called in to negotiate how to end the strike as the Sec of State for Employment and Productivity (Labour)

Question 24

Consequences of the Ford Dagenham strike

Answer 24

Women offered pay increase, which reduced the gap to 8% - but only in this factory
Equal Pay Act passed in 1970

Question 25

Describe the Sexual Offenses Act

Answer 25

1967
Decriminalised homosexuality
Limitations: age of consent = 21 as opposed to 16 for het couples, no other people could be in the same building as a homo couple having intercourse, women not mentioned at all