To wonder if it was as bad as people say in the 70s?

[juicee2]

I am quite curious about it.

What caused the poverty? I thought the 80s were a poor decade - am I wrong?

snog as the equal ops act was passed in 1972 I doubt your DM being sacked for being pg was true, or at least that it happened in the 70s

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

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

goady and not accurate - I'm sure she knows what happened to her own mother

snog

My dad cooked and cleaned and definatly pushed us in prams. He is now 86 and still does Don’t generalise

There was a rush to buy sugar at one time so it was not always available but we always had more than enough. I dont remember bread being rationed. I was a teacher so purchased an oil lamp to mark and prepare during power cuts. That was just a few days I think. You got a payrise triggered by some index change. Never knew how much you would get each month but it always went up.
Great Times!

There was a lot of racism in the 70s, people made fun of disabled people, I never heard of anyone being gay, it was fine to beat your wife and single mums were completely shunned. I don't know how anyone can believe that people were more respectful in the 70s.

Times are better now. There is no way I would want to go and live in the 70s again for more than a day.

I remember Camp coffee
However I dont remember any poverty
it was the way it was, all in the same boat. you dont miss what you never had.

bath and hair wash was wednesday and sunday.

Ah yes, I remember the racism and homophobia too- so glad we’ve moved on. Much of the tv ‘hunour’ would be very out of place in today’s society.

I knew quite a few Dads who cooked but then a lot of the mums worked as kids got older. Dad hoovered every weekend and liked ironed clothes so did the ironing.

I didn't know older dads who changed nappies among dads like mine born in the 30s. But the new dad's in the late 70s seemed very hands on. So by late 70 s my dad was teased in our family because he never had changed a nappy!

Having a baby on your own was considered a sad thing, it just wasn't deemed possible that you'd do it on purpose. In my community the mass expectation was that the father would marry you, his parents would have that expectation too. That norm had gone by the 80s.

I had a very kind family and neighbours so I was sheltered from a lot of meanness. Though school was harsh it ended at 3.30, so as long as you kept your head down through the gauntlet at the gates there was no further social media bullying.

I remember thinking everyone lived in council housing, I literally had no concept of people owning their own houses. I remember Mum and dad counting out the money to take to the council office to pay the rent ( no direct debits then!)
We didn’t have a car so food shopping had to be done daily. We didn’t get a phone till I was in high school. No fridge just a “cold slab” in the pantry.
Our clothes were virtually all second hand, bought from ads in the local paper, ditto furniture. There was no such thing as a “throwaway society”!
On the whole I think life probably was harder simply because we didn’t have the conveniences that we take for granted today. And as pps have said the pedjudices were terrible.

*Those who say it was worse than today probably weren't there

or are not white.*

Or gay.

Or not gay, rather. Or not disabled.

And the far right and left aren't bigoted today then. My friends were anti racism and sexism and every other ism in the 70s. I had a gay great uncle, I'm half Jewish and my gran was great friends with a single parent. She cleaned for her and brought her daughter to play with my my mother. We are still friends with them.

Show me where I used the word "tolerant". It's one of MN's worst faults that people put words in other posters' mouths. I meant what I said, not what you think I said.

In any case, if all the tolerance virtue signalled in our society (personally I don't think it actually exists) has to be at the cost of the widespread rudeness, selfishness and lack of respect I see every day, it frankly isn't worth having.

Bluelady I totally agree with everything you have said.

People were definitely more frugal. And things weren't available so relatively a lot more expensive I think. Clothes had massive alterations, hems let down etc, definitely much more mend and make do rather than just replacing. People mended things!! People bought second hand, I had loads of pre worn stuff and second hand toys. The very concept of buying a ready made sandwich, let alone one with smoked salmon in would have been unthinkable! Prawn Cocktail would have been a wedding day treat not stuffed in a bun for a weekday lunch! I remember power cuts well. But never really thought of it as hard, but then I didn't know different. My parents had lived through the war so to them everything was blossoming!

Bluelady but it was rude to call people paki, nigger or whatever.

That sort of racism is just not accepted as normal in the way it was in the 1970s. Of course if you are white, not disabled not a single parent maybe you never experienced it but it doesn't mean it didn't happen and those people who did are glad it has improved, not perfect but definitely better. If some are getting a bit of the rudeness the rest of us got, not all of it just a bit, so that we get a lot less than I think it is a price worth paying.

It seems quite selfish to me that you have an "I'm all right jack" attitude.

I think you are missing the point Bluelady

People were rude to my mother because they knew she was a single mother, they were rude to my dad becuase he is Asian, friend’s sister was openly mocked becuase she was disabled

It was by society standards acceptable be rude to some people they were not as worthy of politeness and respect as others were those others being white English Christians who were not too poor

That’s not to say there still isn’t prejudice about now but it certinaly wasn’t everyone’s experience that society was politer it was conditional

I preferred it to now.
Despite all the positive changes, people seem more stressed, more paranoid and more fearful today.

Interesting views here and very mixed depending on whether you were working class or middle class I'd imagine.

I grew up in a Midlands mining town in a suburban semi. We lived a couple of streets away from green belt land so were able to roam freely every day either on bikes or walking. We'd go out at 9 and get back at 5 and nobody bothered.

We had a black and white TV but no phone. We used the phone box on the green to call relatives. This lead to poppers-in dropping by unannounced which my mother hated but my dad loved.

We had a second hand car but my mother didn't drive as she had to give up work as soon as she got married (as all women did then) so she was effectively isolated from family and friends in the middle of nowhere with a bus every couple of hours during the day. She felt very resentful at having her wings clipped for domestic life.

My dad worked in a factory and did the three day week often leading to lack of money and tension. We still had annual holidays on the south coast though and the occasional trip to other places with Hoseasons (Norfolk I think?) We had lots of days out and were allowed treats such as chips or ice-cream.

I remember the power cuts very well and having to boil a pan of hot water over the coal fire. No central heating until the 80s and no automatic washing machine either. We had a top loader. My mother seemed to be forever washing/ironing/cooking/cleaning etc..

Hand-me-down clothes were the norm and I remember only ever having two or three outfits besides my school uniform.

TV was the main entertainment unless you found a good book at the library. We occasionally played gin rummy or twist or trumps or pontoon. We also had indoor fireworks which we loved.

Some neighbours were a lot better off than us and had colour TVs, phones and multiple cars and foreign holidays, others were quite poor though with no TV and barely any furniture. They were the ones that seemed to spend all their time in the pubs and clubs.

We ocassionally went to my dad's work club at night and I remember the women wearing long brushed nylon dresses like Margot Leadbetter and the air was thick with smoke. In fact, everywhere was thick with cigarette smoke. shop keepers smoked, doctors smoked, teachers smoked in class, it was everywhere.

On the whole, it was a great time to grow up though as life was so simple if you had enough money.

Not all women gave up work when they married/had kids. I worked all through the 70s and my first was born in 1971 and my second 3 years later.

I only knew one woman who gave up work when she got married.

I'm not missing the point at all, it's all of you talking about prejudice and tolerance who are missing my point.

I was a single parent in the late 70s, nobody was rude to me. I agree that people keep their prejudices better hidden now, that doesn't mean they don't still exist.

Once more. I'm talking about everyday interactions with other people, regardless of sex, race, age, disability and anything else I haven't covered. On the road, on public transport, in supermarkets, on the street, there is an unparalleled level of rudeness and disregard for other people. This has nothing to do with tolerance or prejudice and everything to do with good manners.

Personally, I remember the 70s being cold. What felt like hundreds of itchy blankets on my bed and you could see your breath when you woke up in the morning. Not enough food to eat, and what we did have was crap.
Not having any school uniform so we stood out at school. Stinking at school because my sister wet the bed and we couldn't afford to go to the launderette all the time.
Black and white TV that you had to feed with 50p pieces.
Awful, fussy clothes, that were always hand-me-downs from aunts.
Haircuts at home with really dodgy fringes.
Headteacher carrying his cane around all the time and my siblings complaining about getting the ruler - I was too much of a swot to ever get told off but I was also petrified.
Northern Ireland was really scary. Fantasising that I was the test card girl, power cuts.
Mum worrying about not being able to pay the bills.

Bluelady don't you get it, people who were "other" got rudeness and abuse everyday in everyday situations like shopping or catching a bus. How is that not rude, OK they weren't rude to you but lots of other people had a different experience.

I remember at work one day, would have been 1973 or 1974, very mouthy woman got back from lunch complaining she'd had to queue behind black people (she wasn't as polite in her description) and had objected to waiting. Her justification was that it was OK when they came here to clean toilets and sweep roads but they had got "ideas above their station." Her other gem was that her grandfather fought it WW2 to keep Britain white. I had to point out to her that Hitler was the racist and her grandfather was totally wrong if that was what he thought he was fighting for.

Also kids who were black/brown were just expected to put up with abuse at school, it was just accepted as one of those things.

I agree that there wasn't as much open rudeness and disrespect back then. Doesn't mean people were treated better by each other.
Some of the nonsense snowflake stuff I read on here makes me wonder how many younger mnetters would have managed. And then I realise that thinking and saying that is a) rude and b) what my mum would have said to me back then much to my annoyance.