After a long battle, Britain’s Sex Discrimination Act came into force in 1975. What did it do for women?

[IwantToRetire]

The 50th anniversary of women’s suffrage in 1968 prompted a moment of soul searching for many women frustrated at how little progress seemed to have been made towards equality. One of these was Joyce Butler, the backbench Labour and Co-operative MP for Wood Green. Having had a longstanding interest in women’s rights, she had been instrumental in campaigning to make cervical cancer screening available nationwide. In autobiographical notes later in life she spoke of a sense of ‘unfinished business’.

One day she learned of a woman bus conductor who wanted to become a bus inspector, but could not get the necessary experience to take this step because her employer did not hire women to drive buses. Butler reflected:

Like the light on the Road to Damascus, I realised that this job-and-training discrimination was the key to women’s failure to advance. We already had legislation against race discrimination – what was needed was a similar law for women.

Continues at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/joyce-butler-and-sex-discrimination-act

I think that was mid 70s. But on a later post I realised that this was common at the time, and in fact the Sex Discrimination Act put an end to any sort of out let being able to do it.

So as with pubs, some had a tradition of serving women in a seperate area, or not at all!

But this was in Central London, around the Soho area, so it may just have been individual Wimpy Bars implementing this rule, because (as usual the double standard) men would accept and pay a woman for "sex" but wouldn't want a woman who was a prostitute eating in the same place they did!

It is based on women who were asked to leave Wimpy Bars. And links in with women going into pubs to see if they would be served if going in alone.

With a fall in maternal death rate, infant mortality, and stillbirth rate, merging it into the baptism makes sense.

In an environment where maternal mortality, infant mortality, and stillbirth are high, a separate "welcome back, we thank God that you're alive" ceremony for the mother allows the community to acknowledge her birth ordeal and show that they value her, even if there's no living baby to show for it.

But the idea that she's sinned or is unclean somehow by giving birth is just urgh.

I know of a school that didn't allow girls to wear trousers until after 2020.

Here's an interesting little nugget. After university I joined BOAC in 1969 as cabin crew to see the world while I decided what to do with my life. The rule then was that female cabin crew could only do the job until the age of 30. Males could continue until retirement age of course. The Sex Discrimination Act changed all of that thankfully. I left just after 30 years of age to begin the career in which I stayed until retirement. It was also not uncommon for females to be paid less then men even while doing the same job. Even then employers advised married women to pay the full NI contribution rather than the married women's stamp to build up their own pension contributions. Also maternity leave with British Airways at the time was 6 months

My GP wouldn't give me the contraceptive pill in 1982 because I was unmarried. I remember his words and the shame I felt at the time.

Guessing that that's why Brook et al ran standalone contraceptive clinics.

I've never understood this reasoning. Surely, a pregnancy out of wedlock is worse than taking the Pill outside of wedlock?

I've never understood this reasoning.

Usual double standards. Men having sex out of marriage are just behaving "naturally".

Women having sex out of marraige were acting against women's accepted behavoiur.

Never understood how people could hold these 2 thoughts at the same time.

If it was okay for men to have sex with any number of women, but women were only supposed to have sex with their husband, who were the women the first group of men were supposed to be having sex with.

who were the women the first group of men were supposed to be having sex with.

Prostituted women. And no one ever gives a shit about those.

Never understood how people could hold these 2 thoughts at the same time.

Religion helps.

Yes, my GP was Mormon.

This was mentioned on Moneybox the other day. That single women couldn't even buy a washing machine without a husband/male guarantor.

Well yes, but if prostitutes are women, why are they "allowable" ie being a woman have sex outside of marriage.

So in reality men created 3 types of women.

Women who are married who can have sex but only with their husbands.

Women who arent married and so cant have sex.

Women who aren't married and can have sex with men who pay them, but because they do this they ceast to be women but are "sluts" or even "fallen women". Added to which these women aren't having sex for pleasure or closeness to a man, but for money. Which also illustrates that what sex means for men isn't related to anythng personal.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002nh6c?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

I had my first careers interview, at school, in 1975 and was vaguely aware of the Sex Discrimination Act. My two areas of interest were travel (I'd done more than most 15-year olds of the time) and writing (which I had a flair for). The female adviser didn't ask me what I was interested in. The only suggested careers the female careers' advisor had for me were State Enrolled Nurse and secretary. I had no interest in either and walked away feeling deflated and angry.

So it definitely wasn't all Wimpys.. I think they were franchises so quite possible to his wasn't a company policy, it certainly wasn't where I lived.

I don't know where the idea of it being sinful comes from. I suppose if you were unmarried but for a married woman where was the sin. Didn't there used to be something in the marriage ceremony about the purpose of marriage being to have children, there was an alternative for couples who wouldn't be able to have children.

There are also male prostitutes some having sex with men and some having sex with women but they are more likely to be called gigolos.

I had a friend who joined the RAF in an engineering role, and got a commission as a Pilot Officer (which made her responsible for a lot of men). On her exit, the careers advice was "have some children".

This was 1995.

The term "prostitute" has been so flexible over the centuries as to be totally worthless in grown up discussions. (Luckily that never happens now).

It was also not uncommon for females to be paid less then men even while doing the same job.

It was also not uncommon for women not to be allowed to join employers pension schemes.

No, but the fact it could be said shows the attitudes at the time. And if you read the article I linked to earlier about women in the media, they too faced this by not being allowed to go to the bar all the male journalists congregated at.

And it was when some of them starting making this public that it became an issue that more people started to think really was not acceptable.

Change often happens when by chance rather than design or a top down campaign, shows the impact in different areas, situations.

My point was it wasn't Wimpy as an organisation, just some probably franchised, branches. I knew that wasnt generally true in the ,60s or 70s as I have been served as a lone female in more than one Wimpy branch.