Women and Work

1
Women and Work
2
Domestic Service

• Before the First World War this was the largest
  single employment of women.
• Servants worked from 6 am to 10 pm each day with
  only a two and a half hour break for meals and a
  half day holiday on Sundays.

3
Sweated Trades

• Many working class married women took in washing
  and ironing to supplement their income.

4
The Distressed Seamstress

• Middle class women with no husbands or brothers
  to look after them often took in sewing, the
  only job considered acceptable for someone of her
  station, to earn a living. This was hard and
  poorly paid work.

5
Factory work

• The industrial revolution provided work for women
  in the factories. Women and children were
  preferred because they were generally more
  obedient and they were paid less than men.

6
New Technology - New Opportunities

• The invention of the telephone and typewriter
  provided new job opportunities for women in
  offices and telephone exchanges. More women were
  working as shop assistants. However job
  opportunities for women were extremely limited
  and women workers were paid less than men.

7
The Marriage Bar

• The idea that a womans place was in the home was
  very strong.
• Women were expected to give up their jobs when
  they got married.
• This was known as the marriage bar.

8
Improvements

• The Education Act of 1872 provided primary
  education for both boys and girls.
• Higher education was limited to those who could
  pay.
• The first woman graduated from Edinburgh
  university in 1893.

9
The Great War

• In August 1914 500,000 men joined the army.
• Women were needed to take over mens jobs.
• Women worked in a variety of jobs they had never
  tackled before.

10
War Work
11
Nursing

• Voluntary Aid Detachments
• These were known as the lilac and blue bonnet
  brigade.
• Middle and upper class girls volunteered as
  nurses.
• They were unprepared for the horrific injuries
  the soldiers suffered in the war.

12
The Land Army

• Food shortages were a real problem during the
  war.
• A lot of farmers sons had joined up.
• Girls joined the land army.
• They kept the country going.

13
Munitions

• Many women worked in difficult and dangerous
  conditions in munitions.
• They were nicknamed canaries because the
  chemicals they used in high explosives poisoned
  them turning their skin yellow and their hair
  red.
• Many did not know that they would never have
  children in the future.
• Many women were killed in factory explosions.

14
The Armed Forces

• For the first time women were allowed to join the
  armed forces.
• They had no combat role but did other jobs eg
  clerical, transport etc which would free up
  soldiers to fight.

15
The Armed Forces

• The WAACs (the Womens Army Auxiliary Corps)
• The Wrens (the Womens Royal Navy.)
• The WRAF (the Womens Royal Airforce).

16
After the War

• Women were expected to give up their jobs and go
  back into the home.
• However so many men had been killed or injured
  that women needed to go out to work to support
  themselves or their families.
• Importantly attitudes to women working had
  changed.
• The government showed their gratitude to women by
  giving women over 30 the vote in recognition of
  their war work.

17
World War Two

• Once again women were asked to work in war
  industries.
• Women between the ages of 18 30 were
  conscripted to work in the land army, engineering
  , shipbuilding and the armed services
• Once again they were expected to give up their
  jobs after the war.

18
Working women

• The numbers of women working continued to
  increase.
• The numbers of married women doing part time work
  increased from 18 in 1947 to 60 in 1979.
• They worked in light industry, welfare services
  and shop work.
• They were still poorly paid compared to men.

19
Equal opportunities?

• Women teachers were the first to achieve equal
  pay with their male colleagues in the 1950s
• It wasnt until 1970 that the Equal Pay Act
  stated that men and women doing the same job
  should be paid the same rate.

20
Speech Cheap Labour?

• Imagine you are a member of the teachers Union,
  the EIS.
• You have been asked to deliver a short speech to
  the TUC.
• In your speech explain why women workers should
  be paid the same rate for the same job.
• You have 11 minutes.

21
Sex Discrimination Act

• The Sex Discrimination Act passed in 1975 was to
  prevent any one being denied a job simply on the
  grounds of their gender.
• The Equal opportunities commission was set up in
  1976 to enforce the act. Women could take their
  employers to court to end discrimination.

22
Job Applications

• After the equal opportunities act was passed it
  was against the law to specify a male or female
  worker for a job. Re write these job
  applications so that they comply with the new law.

23
Situations Vacant

• Salesman Wanted
• Magic Motors is looking for an car salesman. We
  require a man with several years experience in
  the motor trade.

• Shop girl wanted.
• Aged 16 -18
• 35 Hours per week.
• No experience necessary as training will be
  given.
• The successful young woman must be of smart
  appearance.