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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be shocked that in 1970 a woman with 2 kids got in benefits the equivalent in purchasing power of £58.20 a week?

70 replies

crunchymint · 02/04/2018 17:31

That was it. With some contribution towards rent, bills, food and clothes to pay for. No wonder lots of women stayed in awful marriages rather than being on benefits. I can't imagine how those single mothers managed.

OP posts:

Echobelly · 02/04/2018 17:40

Oh yeah, I'm sure on some level it was a pittance to discourage divorce, which of course only applied to women.

Original poster

crunchymint · 02/04/2018 17:44

Yes and most single mothers then were ostracised from their families, because divorce was still frowned upon by most people. So they couldn't even rely on family help. Just reinforces for me why so many women stayed in shit marriages.

OP posts:

x2boys · 02/04/2018 17:47

I watched quite a few world in action documentries recently frilm the early to late 70,s a man and his wife in the 1970 in one docunentry earned about £30 between them /week and they had to pay everything out of that , in another maybe late 70,s a single mum with two kids got about £25 week but also had help towards her rent and a single 16 yr old got about £9/week dole late 70,s.

Bluelady · 02/04/2018 17:51

In 1975 I was earning about £15, my husband was on about £25. When my son was born that year we lived on one wage (his). The rent was £42 a month.

TroubledLichen · 02/04/2018 18:01

Weren’t the 70s just a shit time economically all round?! Like the 3 day working week and I’m thinking of my mum who tells many stories of being so broke that she had a weekend job and an evening job in addition to the day job (that was actually quite a good job at the BBC) just to be able to pay the rent which was a shared bedroom in a shit hole with cockroaches. And she still couldn’t afford to take the tube to work. Lots of sympathy for single mothers but I think you might be missing the point...

Katescurios · 02/04/2018 18:02

A few years ago I spoke to my then neighbour who told met that she had been forced to rent because as a single divorced woman with children in the 60s she wasn't legally allowed a mortgage without a man to sign for her.

Even though she worked full time for the NHS in the local hospital.

By the time she had raised her children and was legally allowed to apply for a mortgage by herself (1974 that law changed!!) she wasn't financially viable anymore as she was approaching retirement.

AuntieStella · 02/04/2018 18:04

Yes, when people say that times were hard in the seventies, they are routinely disbelieved. I think that's a a pity, because this is exactly the sort of thing they mean when it is said.

Original poster

crunchymint · 02/04/2018 18:05

kates Yes and I am still surprised that so many younger people don't realise how recently women have been allowed mortgages, loans, etc without a man counter signing.

OP posts:

BinG0wings123 · 02/04/2018 18:06

Happened to me last year thoug.

I finally got my awful husband to leave.

He wouldn’t let me work, so I had to claim benefits.

Only when he left, because of the benefits cap I couldn’t afford to live without his wage. I went for every job going, couldn’t find one (no qualifications after 16, no work experience for 16 years).

So he had to come back.

It still goes on.

BinG0wings123 · 02/04/2018 18:08

I mean he wouldn’t let me work when we were together - couldn’t afford childcare and me working at weekends/eves would have put him out.

I had to claim housing benefit when he left. My rent and bills came to £150 a month more than all benefits.

spacecadet48 · 02/04/2018 18:16

I was a child from a broken home in the 70s. We were uprooted from our one bed tenement flat in Glasgow, where our family were to a new town, nicer living environment but no family around. Our DF left me and my sisters and the youngest was only 3. My DM was young herself and struggled. We lived on benefits, we had no family close by and she couldn't work until we were all at school. (which she did the minute she could). We lived on soup and pudding nights, a small chicken would be for two meals. (still don't know how she did it). Free school dinners, provident cheques to get your school uniforms and shoes. Anything extra she bought with cigarette coupons or catalogues and paid up. My DM tried bloody hard but my word it was tough. My DM counted every penny and never missed a bill.

caroldecker · 02/04/2018 18:36

We is much richer today, across the board, due to capitalism and globalisation etc - not that many on here believe that.

Troels · 02/04/2018 19:30

I was the child of a single Mum (two kids) in the 70's. She worked two jobs, one full time all day 9-5 with Sunday and Monday afternoon off, and one in a pub on thurs, fri, sat, nights from 7 to midnight. No benefits, she made do on that we had a council house. Also Women then earned less than men for the same job, it was advertised that way, no secret.

Troels · 02/04/2018 19:32

Oh we didn't have babysitters either, latch key kids from about 7 or 8 and alone in the house put ourselves to bed when she was working in the pub.

sall74 · 02/04/2018 19:40

Caroldecker - Not many believe that because it is utter bollocks.
Globalisation has only enriched the already wealthy in the west and as for 'capitalism' ... well you really need to do some reading up about just how free market capitalism is supposed to operate, because what we've currently got is just about as far from true capitalism as it's possible to get.

caroldecker · 02/04/2018 20:04

Sall74 believe what you want - I choose to believe the evidence.

LucheroTena · 02/04/2018 20:12

My mum was a divorcee in the 70s. We had to move into her parents 2 bed council house because we wouldn’t have afforded to live alone. She worked 2 jobs, one had no flat wage but you got a % of the tips. As well as benefits not paying much therecwas a great shame attached to claiming. So we never claimed anything, not benefits or free school meals or maintenance from my father. Life felt very small and frugal.

Bluelady · 02/04/2018 20:14

Try telling someone trying to live on benefits or the minimum wage that we're all much richer, Carol.

DullAndOld · 02/04/2018 20:14

My mum was a divorcee in the 70s and she was so benefit-ignorant that she didn't apply for some kind of family credit for at least three years, as she had no idea that she would be entitled to anything.
She just kept working and taking in lodgers....

pudcat · 02/04/2018 20:20

When I had my first child in 1974 there was no family allowance paid for eldest child. I had to give up my teaching post in the october before my baby was born in the January receiving basic maternity pay. No maternity leave and no job to go back to. We lived off husbands's wage.

Original poster

crunchymint · 02/04/2018 22:35

bluelady I am totally against the cuts. But the reality is no single parent with two kids and no job gets as small amount in benefits as they would have in 1970. I don't know how it would have been possible to survive.

OP posts:

formerbabe · 02/04/2018 23:19

In 1975 I was earning about £15, my husband was on about £25

I take it you mean per week?

When my son was born that year we lived on one wage (his). The rent was £42 a month

So £100 a month coming in and £42 on rent? So just over 40% on rent...it's not much different in percentage terms nowadays.

caroldecker · 03/04/2018 01:21

Bluelady ask people in the same position in the 70's. Much better quality of life now as well.

123bananas · 03/04/2018 01:53

DH's mum was a single parent with 4 young kids in the 70's.

She had two jobs and a kindly neighbour watched over the kids.

She often went without meals so they could eat.

It is so much better now.

EBearhug · 03/04/2018 02:02

When we were clearing my father's papers, we found an unfilled tax return from about 1970, which included a section for the details of any dependent adult daughters. Many changes are really quite recent.

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