The Position of Women (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes

The Position of Women

Introduction: Change and continuity in the 20th century

Throughout the 20th century, women's lives underwent substantial transformation in both public and private spheres. However, historians must exercise caution when assessing the pace and scope of these changes. While legislative reforms and shifting social attitudes brought undeniable progress, deeply embedded patterns of inequality persisted in many areas of British life.

Legislative advances and persistent barriers

Voting rights and political participation

Early 20th century legislation granted women formal political equality with men. The 1918 Representation of the People Act extended the franchise to women over 30 who met property qualifications, whilst the 1928 Equal Franchise Act lowered the voting age for women to 21, matching men's voting age. These reforms meant women could vote in national and local elections on the same basis as men, and could stand as parliamentary candidates.

Employment discrimination

The 1970s brought legislation designed to eliminate gender-based discrimination in the workplace. Employers could no longer legally pay different wages to men and women performing identical work. This established the principle of equal pay for comparable roles.

However, the practical application of this principle proved problematic. Men and women often performed different types of work within organisations, making direct comparisons difficult. Courts and tribunals spent considerable time hearing cases that attempted to establish whether particular jobs constituted "comparable work", testing the boundaries of equal pay legislation.

The persistent pay gap

At the start of the 1970s, women's average earnings stood at approximately 50% of men's pay. This figure represented a substantial wage disparity that disadvantaged women across the economy. During the 1970s and early 1980s, women's relative earnings improved steadily, reaching about 60% of men's pay by the early 1980s.

Trade unions played an important role in securing these pay increases. Rising female membership of unions meant that women's pay demands received greater attention during wage negotiations. However, progress slowed markedly after this initial improvement, with women's average pay stalling at roughly two-thirds that of men.

Tax reform and individualisation

During the 1980s, Chancellor Nigel Lawson introduced reforms to the taxation system that had implications for how married couples were treated. Previously, married partners had been assessed as a single economic unit for tax purposes, with husbands responsible for submitting their wives' tax returns alongside their own.

Lawson's changes moved towards treating marriage partners as separate individuals for taxation. Each person became responsible for their own tax return, regardless of marital status.

Access to higher education

The 1980s witnessed important changes in women's access to university education. Newer universities established during the post-war expansion had operated on co-educational principles from their founding, admitting both men and women as students.

However, Oxford and Cambridge, the oldest and most prestigious universities, had maintained single-sex colleges for men. During this period, these ancient institutions began opening their doors to women applicants. Oxford and Cambridge colleges gradually admitted women, creating a more gender-balanced student body at institutions that had historically excluded them. This development improved women's access to elite educational credentials and the career opportunities associated with them.

Women in politics: The Thatcher years

Margaret Thatcher's election as Prime Minister in 1979 represented a remarkable achievement. She became the first woman to lead a major British political party and to hold the office of Prime Minister. Her political longevity and dominance of the 1980s demonstrated that a woman could succeed at the highest levels of British politics.

Thatcher's personal background as a lower-middle-class woman who attended state schools rather than elite private institutions and who never went to university distinguished her from many male Conservative politicians. She had experienced rejection (being turned down for a bus conductor position) and unemployment, giving her a different perspective from upper-middle-class men who dominated much of the Conservative Party establishment.

John Major, who succeeded Thatcher as Prime Minister, demonstrated a somewhat greater willingness to promote women within government, appointing two women to his Cabinet.

Gender and voting behaviour

In the decades following the Second World War, a clear gender gap emerged in voting patterns. Women consistently showed a greater tendency to vote Conservative than men did. This pattern persisted across multiple elections and became a recognised feature of British electoral politics.