BRITISH WOMEN IN THE 20TH CENTURY

At the beginning of the 20th century, women who were over 30 were allowed to vote in Britain. There were also more job opportunities available for women. 

Thanks to the Sex Disqualification Removal Act in 1919, women had the chance to become lawyers, vets and civil servants. Carrie Morrison is known as the first female solicitor. It was 1916 when the first British policewoman was employed.

However, it wasn’t common for married women to work until the 1950s. As there used to be lots of housework to do and due to the lack of technology, these daily chores used to be very time consuming.

From 1975, it was made illegal to fire women because of pregnancy. Furthermore, thanks to the Sex Discrimination Act, it became illegal to discriminate against women in employment, education and training. With a change in the law in 1984, women started to be paid the same amount of money as men for doing the same job.

Adapted from the A World History Encyclopaedia website