News on 1950s women’s Pension

[Immaculatemisconception]

Women's state pension: Compensation closer for Waspi campaigners www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57900320

@StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind

After my marriage ended, I walked round and round the Building Societies, trying to get a mortgage. I remember being told to go home and talk it all over with my husband.

This is so awful.

It's all been brushed under the carpet hasn't it, how terribly women were treated, right into the late 20th century? Which is made all the more intolerable because even today in 2021 things are not equal and in fact things things feel like they're getting worse for women again.

Whilst things are better I'm still pissed or at how this very recent bit of history is just swept away. And better isn't good enough.

Thanks for understanding. ❤️

[quote Soontobe60]@korawick12345
Average age for motherhood in 1970 was 27. Sorry the facts don’t agree with you

You’ve misinterpreted this.

Fifty per cent of the women born in 1950 had become mothers when they turned 22.8 years (median age). Among those born in 1970 the median age has increased to 26.7 years.
I had my first child in 1985, aged 25, and was classed as ‘elderly primagravdia’[/quote]
The average age of mothers was 27 at no point have I suggested it was the average age of women having their first child. It was in response to someone suggesting that the vast majority of women were having babies in their teens and early twenties, which is patently not true. As I have said ad nauseam on this thread no one is saying that no one had any children young, simply that it was by no means the vast majority

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-45783932.amp

This is a really interesting article about working life for young women in the 60s and 70s- I remember watching the tv programme 'back in time for the factory' with my mum and was so angry at the inequalities and sexism. It shouldn't ever be belittled, things were so slow to change. Evidenced by the fact that we've still got a long way to go.

I realise that I may not have been clear and use of the word motherhood may have caused confusion. I used it as shorthand for women giving birth, which was sloppy of me.

Another horror in the 1970s was how women got court ordered maintenance for children. I knew a woman who had a baby when unmarried, he wouldn't pay, she took him to court. She was awarded something, don't think it was much, but she had to collect it from the court office in the city centre on the Friday afternoon. I mean she spent her lunch hour running from her office to the court and queuing up for her money. The court officials were often late back from lunch and she was so often late back from lunch that she was threatened with dismissal.

It was in response to someone suggesting that the vast majority of women were having babies in their teens and early twenties, which is patently not true.

No it’s not. You are using the mean for the age at which women were giving birth to any child. You can’t tell how much it is being pushed up by older outliers and women having subsequent children.

To understand the age at which women’s employment was commonly interrupted by childbirth you need the mode age for giving birth to first child.

@Thisbastardcomputer

What a complete bunch of bitches you all are to the boomer generation, who are probably your own mothers. Things are different for each generation and do you not think you'll benefit through inheritance from the property they were able to buy, albeit at massive interest rates.

No, women were NOT informed of the changes. Live off 1 income? You’re kidding me. It’s a shame that you feel women being treated fairly is grabby. I’m currently still working part time until my state pension as I can’t afford not to. I support my daughter by looking after her kids 1 day a week because her childcare costs are prohibitive plus I look after my own mother and step father as the care system is screwed and they need the help. Who’s going to help look after the children of todays’ 30 somethings, and who’s going to help support the elderly?

@Iamthewombat

The company I worked for (joined late seventies) women had to resign when they got married

I’m sorry to tell you that this is nonsense. The marriage bar was removed for most jobs by the mid 1950s, and earlier than that for quite a few. The company you worked for could not have forced you to resign because you got married.

Why are we getting these Catherine Cookson stories, as if women born in the 1950s were Victorian drudges? If you were born in 1953, you would have been 30 in 1983, when women were absolutely pouring into the workplace at all levels of seniority and the world was changing to accommodate them doing so.

It may have been law, but it certainly wasn’t upheld. I was a civil servant in 1980 until I had my first child in 1985. I had 12 weeks statutory mat pay, which I had to take from my 34th week of pregnancy. That meant I’d have to return when my daughter was just 6 weeks old. Not allowed to go part time, compressed hours, breast feed or express at work, no nurseries apart from one council nursery that only took children from 1 year old unless social services were involved. It was a different world for women. Add to that mortgage rates of up to 15% and mass redundancies life was pretty shit.

@Iamthewombat

So the poster is lying?

She’s either confused or not telling the truth.

If your career has progressed through companies complying with both the spirit and letter of the equalities law then congratulations on your charmed life.

“The spirit and letter”? You’re hedging now because you know that your argument isn’t backed up by evidence.

Women are still sacked for being pregnant

Name ten women who have been fired in 2021 “for being pregnant”, and for that reason alone. Or in 2019 or 2020.

pay a lifelong tarrif for maternity even if they go straight back to work, still don't have equal pay.

If you are arguing that women are still suffering these injustices, why are you not fighting for young women’s rights rather than women born in the 1950s? After all, it’s the young women who will have to pay for the compensation the WASPI women are still demanding.

I was born in the sixties it was commonplace even in large companies to ask young women about marriage plans, baby plans and demark some jobs as men only. They simply didn't write it down. Large corporates on the whole are more likely to be compliant with the than small organisations. Male dominated unions don't help - many were still opposing equal pay cases for women just in recent years.

Well, we’ve had your views on the woes of women but you still haven’t explained why they are unique to the 1950s women.

The law is irrelevant to women who lack the resources and means to fight malpractice by employers.

As above, and that is your view only. Do you think that the law is relevant to men who similarly lack resources and means? Because it sounds like you’re throwing in every complaint about the world of work that you can dredge up and assigning ownership to 1950s women.

Try looking at the website pregnantthenscrewed.com/ What makes you think we aren’t fighting for today’s women, and for the women of the future?

Are you a man?

@Soontobe60
We were informed. It was all over the media. Those protesting chose to bury their heads in the sand.

Another horror in the 1970s was how women got court ordered maintenance for children. I knew a woman who had a baby when unmarried, he wouldn't pay, she took him to court. She was awarded something, don't think it was much, but she had to collect it from the court office in the city centre on the Friday afternoon. I mean she spent her lunch hour running from her office to the court and queuing up for her money. The court officials were often late back from lunch and she was so often late back from lunch that she was threatened with dismissal.

Another awful story- and that's without even mentioning the stigma for single mums at that time.

I became a single mum three years ago. I was able to get support from women's aid (I've just googled out of interest and they were founded in 1974- probably by the boomer generation so often derided on here). My ex left me absolutely penniless and as well as support from my parents (WASPI mother btw), i benefitted from universal credit whilst looking for a job (had been a SAHM whilst with ex). Got a job quickly but then was still lucky to be topped up in UC whilst working part time. Back working in a full time, far better job now but the safety net I was able to benefit from helped me get back on my feet and made life so much easier. And I don't think that WASPI women would have been as lucky in the same circumstances. That just makes me really sad, to imagine how much tougher it would have been to be a single mum back then.

I don't understand anyone who begrudges them getting what is fair for them.

I worked for a bank in the 1970s and I didn't become entitled to a pension until I had both worked there for 5 years and reached the age of 26. The men were entitled to a pension from the end of their probation period (6 months I believe). Most women were unable to meet both pension requirements because they left to have babies.

@Iamthewombat
If you are arguing that discrimination against women is still happening, which nobody would dispute, why do you think that only the 1950s born women should be compensated? How about the women born in the 1930s and 1940s? Aren’t you bothered about them?

They received their pension when they were 60. So why would they require compensation?

www.striking-women.org/module/workplace-issues-past-and-present/maternity-and-paternity-leave-and-pay

“The UK introduced its first maternity leave legislation through the Employment Protection Act 1975, which was extended through further legislation, such as The Employment Act 1980. However, for the first 15 years, only about half of working women were eligible for it because of long qualifying periods of employment.”

They received their pension when they were 60. So why would they require compensation?

Actually I would give them compensation - lack of equalities legislation has led to real hardship.

However, I can’t think of a way that it could work in practice.

That or just bitter about house prices today @Soontobe60, as if it's the fault of boomers or WASPI women.

Which yeah, house prices piss me off. Although I'd still be on the ladder and probably in a decent position if it weren't for my arsehole ex husband. I still think yes something needs to be done about growing inequalities between generations.

But I think it's terrible how sexism against women which was so blatant in such recent history is just completely ignored. And I know at 33 I was never refused a mortgage because of my sex. I could get the pill easily. I had a good safety net from the state when i left my ex and haven't felt discriminated against for being a single mum.

Sickens me that some people don't want to acknowledge how awful the sexism was for the WASPI women and begrudge them just getting what is fair for them. And no I do not think the pension age should be the same for WASPI women and the men of their generation.

For the poster that thought 1983 was really modern and women were equal to men, they got paid the same, they could do anything they wanted.
I don’t think you were around in 1983
In 1983 I worked in a company which had an IT department women were not allowed to work in it
Even in the late 80s I worked in a company that paid the YTS boy more than me for doing the same job.

You might look at what date laws came in and think everyone the next day had their pay raised to that of the men doing the same job or you could work after you were married etc

You would be very wrong.

I agree @merrymouse.

Very simply, every single generation of women has dealt with sexism and inequalities and has been treated poorly compared to men and have suffered many different hardships because of it. And things are going backwards again. My daughter is nearly 9- makes me so sad to think I can't see things being equal for her generation either.

@Soontobe60

I think *@korawick12345* is most likely a handmaiden for men, who believes women over 40 have no worth and should just shut up. Sad.

Well that would be fairly unlikely given that I am over 40 myself. But don’t let me interrupt your personal insults.

I wonder if in the future people will assume that men and women split parental leave equally as soon as the law changed in 2015?

(Assuming we ever reach a point when men and women split parental leave equally!)

@Bythemillpond

For the poster that thought 1983 was really modern and women were equal to men, they got paid the same, they could do anything they wanted. I don’t think you were around in 1983 In 1983 I worked in a company which had an IT department women were not allowed to work in it Even in the late 80s I worked in a company that paid the YTS boy more than me for doing the same job.

You might look at what date laws came in and think everyone the next day had their pay raised to that of the men doing the same job or you could work after you were married etc

You would be very wrong.

I don’t think anyone has suggested that, merely that the WASPI women are sadly not an exceptional group and therefore shouldnt be treated as such. Whilst acknowledging that women have always been and continue to be discriminated against it is possible to hold that view and not support this particular legal action.

I wonder if in the future people will assume that men and women split parental leave equally as soon as the law changed in 2015?

I'm sure the men will find a way to write the story that way if it suits them.

The pandemic really showed up the inequalities too didn't it. Women more likely to lose their jobs. Women more likely to be struggling with working and homeschooling etc.

And again its thanks to my fab mum that my kids got any kind of education between January and March this year because I wasn't able to do anything when working.

I don’t think anyone has suggested that, merely that the WASPI women are sadly not an exceptional group and therefore shouldnt be treated as such. Whilst acknowledging that women have always been and continue to be discriminated against it is possible to hold that view and not support this particular legal action.

They're a particular group who have chosen to take their cause as far as they possibly can and good on them for doing it.

And they were subjected to particular conditions that became less prevalent as we moved through the century.