To partially disagree with the argument about the 'second shift' made by some WASPIS?

It's just another way they like to frame things to make out they're victims and should be compensated.

I think this thread is a great example of people being absolutely certain that other cohorts have had things easier than them.

Looking around at night doesn’t change the reality that only around 30% of households have a second car. It’s still a small minority.

I live in the suburbs of a large city and looking around at night most of the houses have more than one car, so I wouldn’t agree with you. The main ones who don’t are either single or older couples where the wife never drives. My point was that most women in the 70s couldn’t just get in the car to nip to the shops or visit family. I’m not saying people don’t walk or use public transport now but it’s more by choice than necessity. ‘Choice’ is what women in the recent past never had

I mean the vast majority of households today have 1 still have car, what’s your point?

Hmmmmm -I was abroad in the early &0s. We were provided with household goods-all the Americans had these microwave ovens which I’d barely heard of.
popular in the states where they were wealthier wasn’t the same as the UK - also many houses struggled to fit in fridges and dishwashers if they could afford them . But don’t let that takeaway from all women having it sooooooooo much harder today. Which is al these threads are about

I've been doing some googling:-
Vacuum cleaners became popular in the 1950s
Washing machines also in the 1950s
Dishwashers also arrived in the 1950s, but only widespread in late 70s
Microwaves arrived late 70s.

I totally agree - my FILs partner who is no longer with us would have been a WASPI, she was a nice person yes, but did absolutely next to no paid work after her first was born till ‘retirement’ age nor any community work either - the fact is that yes housework was often tougher , there were not nurseries on every corner, although a lot of women had more parental help but the thing is full pensions are contribution based and if you haven’t been paying in you can’t really be suprised when you don’t get full benefit out - those who were working were given a lot of notice to say they would need to contribute extra years If they wanted a full pension on their own entitlement. State pensions don’t make any allowances for whether you sat on your arse, or tended to elderly parents or whatever - it’s a purely fiscal thing based on number of years NI contribution . As it is many of these women had lots of years contributions paid in for them by the gvt due to child care years.

Oh give over. I work full time, am bringing up three kids and volunteer extensively in the community. My state pension age is 67 and about to go up to 68. But do I get a gold star for my “second shift” and get to retire at 60 too?

My mum is a WASPI and I grew up in the early 80s. We absolutely had a washing machine and tumble dryer, also a microwave and ready meals. She ironed the very bare minimum, and definitely not duvet covers or tea towels.

My mum worked very part time. I work full time and we eat far more meals that are cooked from scratch than I did growing up! We don’t had a dishwasher, but washing up was my job from the age of 6 or 7. As someone said up thread, it was 1980, not 1880. I don’t think even my grandmother had a mangle. 😂

I think in the 70s, more so than the 80s, many women didn’t drive or households couldn’t afford a second car, so women had to use public transport or walk much more than working women do these days. There were more local butchers, greengrocers and bakery shops so we didn’t do the big weekly shop at a supermarket, but walked to local shops. Actually I enjoyed this much more than I do now at the supermarkets

To not be aware of the changes took quite some effort. The ombudsman said the DWP should have written to each individual but also said that information was widely available.

The Ombudsman disagreed with your verdict that it was “a narrow cohort who chose to ignore the news”. The real issue for most of us in that cohort is the very short notice of the 2012 changes and the unfairness of the transition. I agree that the “second shift” argument is weak at best.

No they don’t. The level of work Waspis did in their own homes or in society is utterly irrelevant to the ombudsman’s ruling.

The ombudsman ruling didn’t have anything do with how much or little chores women do in their own home, or apparently all the community work they did with their absence of free time. It was purely about a very small sub-sect of WASPI’s regarding notice.

Less labour intensive? 😅😂😂 I hope you're joking rather than simply misinformed.

The Ombudsman ruling disagrees with you.

And it still does. It doesn’t justify enhanced pension payments to a narrow cohort of women who chose to ignore the news.

Community work was essential to a good society and shored up government services. It kept libraries open, shored up social services with things like home visits and meal delivery for the infirm (mainly through the church, I think), put on community events, etc.

Given that we're talking about the state pension here, unpaid community work seems very relevant.

Both of these appliances need space to accommodate them. The first house I rented after my divorce had a tiny kitchen ( you could wash the entire kitchen floor by pushing a mop backwards and forwards twice.) . There was no room for either of these and no worktop space to hold a tiny dishwasher. I was a supply teacher with 2 young children. If I'd had a dryer I wouldn't have dared to switch it on. I simply couldn't afford to run it.

I'm sure there were some cases of men doing more hours than their wives. There were several million couples in the cohort. Since we're talking about a big population, it's ridiculous to expect every single person to be the same. The relevant point would be what was most common and to what extent.

I don't know that part time work was much of a break for the women who did it. I think they spent a lot of that time on housework, community work and caring for younger and older generations. But I do think the second shift argument ignores the fact men, on the whole, did far more physically wearing jobs that significantly shortened their lives.

I don’t think housework or running the home, bringing up children has ever been valued so cant believe pension age was to do with that. Wasn’t it because men were usually older than their wives (which they were mostly imv because men needed to be in a job /trade to afford to run a home) and when they retired the wife stayed home to care for them. A man at 65 in a physical job for life would be pretty well done for. And they all smoked.

I think it's hard to make comparisons based upon what appliances you did or didn't have at home because (1) this will depend upon household income more than era - most low-income households these days also lack a tumble and a dishwasher and (2) the costs of things has flipped - used to be that housing and energy were cheap whilst consumer electronics were expensive - now it's the opposite.