The Role of Activist Agences in Shaping the course of Women’s History

There is no discredit that militants and activist agencies fork out played a component in shaping the narration of wo manpower, and a large amount of the historiography of wo mens storey has given excessive attention to the role of activists. Popular hi theme tends to issuing a Rankeian put one across of make upts, focussing instead on the role of the individual, rather than the deeper under(a)lying well-disposed, governmental and economic causes of history.The traditional Liberal remain across of the struggle to obtain the exemption is that the suffragettes, via their activist tactics and under the leadership of the Pankhursts ensured that women were apt(p) the voting, and that this solved on the whole the injustices between the sexes. This simple view of events however ignores the wider changes that were taking score in the sparing and gilding, as strong as placing a larger idiom on certain activists, rather than smell at the broader picture.The militant a ctivities of the suffragettes were never fitting bounteous to frighten the government or the wider public into extending the franchise to women, their acts of violence to fightds keeping were often small exfoliation and petty. It in any case ignores the role of the suffragists led by Millicent Fawcett, who were uttermost more signifi scum bagt in obtaining the vote for women, for they were the ones who reasoned rather than fought with men and showed that women could buses with political matters. setivists continued to use quasi(prenominal) tactics in the 1970s to motivation changes in the law, oftentimes(prenominal) as release nursery places (as removed from local councils responsibilities under the 1980 Education Act) and better maternalism benefits. The real turn of events changes came about however, not imputable to the gr admit high compose activists, but to the eatage roots campaign where women won sit on town and city councils. Historians can often look for the plentiful story to write about, some metres however the big story is made up of oodles of little ones. Womens incline in the economy changed prior to the warf be as headspring. industrialization brought about the end of small scale family run workshops and on that point has been a transit to large workshops. The sexual division of get the picture in mills and factories was seen as a natural occurrence and women did not target area to be paid slight and used more than male workers. Trade unions did not favour equal roles in assiduity for women out of the fear that it would take mens arts from them. The benefits in diligence that women gained during WWI were temporary, and as in short as men returned from the war women were oblige back out of their jobs.One view of the effects of WWI is that giving the vote to women was a reward for their hard work during the war, in the munitions and armaments factories. At the same period as activists had allegedly gained a bett er position for women via the vote, laws such(prenominal) as the Restoration of Pre-war Practices Act (1919) which enacted the agreements between the government and trade unions that womens war work was only temporary. Various activist agencies organised resistance to this, however they turn out futile.The changing role of women economically in the latter part of the c20 was not due to activists but due to the wider structural changes the war effected on the country by World War 2. Following the second gear World War the changing temper of commerce in the UK made it uneconomical to prevent women from on the job(p) and by 1947 in that location were more women workers than in 1939 (Bruley). The deindustrialisation of the UK between 1979-1990 sawing machine a large increase in the numbers of women in employment. Margaret Thatchers economic reforms created massive unemployment, although when employment levels started to recede, women were back into employment faster than men.Th is was due to skilled secondary industry jobs being replaced with low skilled tertiary jobs which could get a style with paying women less and reducing employees rights due to the reforms Thatcher introduced. In 1990 60% of low paid full time workers were women and Carole Buswell found that in the same social menage large resemblances of women were earning less than the EU recommended minimum wage in tertiary industries, even in jobs such as banking and damages 40% of the workers fitted this category.This is because even in well paid jobs, such as banking and insuarance, women were curtail from progressing high up the flight campaign by having to take maternity cater to bring up children, if they were even considered for progression in the first place as many another(prenominal) of these companies were strongly male dominated. The Womens self image has changed a great hide since the germ of the c20, when women saw themselves primarily as mothers and wives, though in w orking class environments this attitude persisted for a lot durable than in wealthier and better educated social groups.Sue Sharpe found in her 1976 bulk Just handle a daughter that working class girls in Ealing in the 70s shut away expected to marry a husband who would take care of them financially and that they would be answerable for childrearing. Womens level of obligingness has decreased greatly from the beginning of the degree Celsius when they were almost voiceless, to the present day where girls have become at least as vocal as men, if not more. oceanic abyss running social trends such as this cannot be changed over night by activists and this deficiency of change in the working classes could be interpreted as licence that womens liberation movements have largely been for and by the white core classes Many women in the 1970s though who had started to redefine their own roles started to live in new ways, such as communally with other women. A large amount of femini st activists espouse Marxist ideology and blamed the oppression of women on the capitalist exploitation of women as a grasp force as well as for the unpaid labour they do domestically.In the 1980s, with its ethos of the individual, women started to appear behind in positions of power, however their high profile was due to their unusualness. However many women were surprise and against this attitude and the 80s saw many women hold out the materialist federation and take up campaigns against issues like nuclear disarmament such as the women at Greenham Common. Activists continued to play a role through the 70s and 80s although as in previous times they were often the key figureheads of larger movements based on mass upheavals.As the UK became an increasingly egalitarian society into the 1960s due to the increasing levels of teaching and the secularisation of society, women started to realise that the restrictions on career options were chiefly the traditional roles of women a nd a lack of education. Large amounts of feminists were students and so they had the opportunities to study the previous(prenominal) and see the oppression that women had faced and likewise how little women appeared in history. The Crowther Report (1959) released middle class grammar school girls from the domestic curriculum, hatchway the door to many more job opportunities.However women were palliate restricted in the workplace by having to be responsible for rearing children as well as attempting to have a career. Viola Klien argued in Womens two roles (1956) that modern societies were unable to consecrate to not have women working, this capitalised on fears that the UK would add up economically behind the USSR where nearly all women worked. Although activists led the womens liberation movement and campaigned against articles such as Miss World and uneven pay, mainly the reforms came from elsewhere.Equal pay was in the long run made a reality when the Fawcett indian lodge (a group of feminists) took the government to the EU hook to enforce the Equal Value Amendment. How much has changed for women in the last 100 geezerhood is debateable. Certainly there have been many legal improvements and women are no longstanding the second class citizens they were at the beginning of the century. However according to some feminists, women are still oppressed by society as whole, being expected to take care of children and do housework as well as to have a job.Opponents to this argue that women are the natural carers of children and that there are no real obstacles in the way for women to have both a job and family if the women works hard enough and balances her time. This group of opponents is not exclusively male. both Thatcher and Queen Victoria were against womens rights, Thatchers attitude being that well I made it so why cant they? and latter believing in the traditional division of the sexes based upon religious belief and tradition. Men still continu e to run the top jobs, with Angela Coyle finding in 1988 that at the very top of companies women made up only 5%.Until 1997 the maximum proportion of women MPs had been approximately 10%. This number was only increased in the 1997 alternative when Tony Blair supported positive discrimination by adopting an Emilys List policy. This meant that in safe seats women be put forward as candidates, the result was 100 women MPs, however this policy was ulterior declared illegal. As women are still expected to take care of children, maternity leave and career breaks for the bringing up of children harm their promotion prospects, resulting in a glass ceiling that often unavoidably the sacrifice of family life in order to break through.Although women appeared to become visible in the media, this is often because the ones who did make it to the top were so unusual that they were worthy of media interest. Solutions to the problem are hard, some feminists argue that the only way the position of women will change is if men think differently too, however this is imposing to say the least. Bruley reaches the conclusion that women are still disadvantaged because although women now have the franchise and careers, they still have to bear the brunt of childbearing, condole with and networking.