9.2.2

The Role of Women in the 1930/40s

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The Role of Women in the 1930s and 1940s

Emily Tallis is perhaps typical of the middle-aged, upper-middle-class woman of the period. However, Cecilia and Briony aim for new identities in society, with both attempting to find self-realisation through education or a career.

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Emily dismissing Cecilia

  • Emily Tallis dismisses Cecilia’s desire for an education as “childish” (p65), thinking that she should instead focus on finding a “husband” and looking forward to “motherhood” (p65).
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Working women in the 1930/40s

  • At the other end of the social scale, around a third of British women worked outside of their homes, the vast majority in low-paid jobs such as cooking and cleaning.
  • Betty and Grace Turner represent these women.
  • The onset of World War 2 led to a sharp increase in demand for women in the workplace and, by 1943, almost 90% of single women and 80% of married women were working in factories, in agriculture or serving in the armed forces.
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Inequality between men & women

  • Women had been given the vote in 1928 but progress towards equality with men was still very limited.
  • Women’s wages were well below men’s and various professions such as the civil service and nursing operated a ‘marriage bar’, which meant that women would have to resign from their job if they were to marry, the thinking being that marriage would mean that a woman would have to prioritise raising a family.
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Rights to higher education

  • However, progress was being made.
  • Women now had the right to higher education (although Cambridge University, which Cecilia attends, would not award them degrees until 1948) and divorce was beginning to become a little easier for women to obtain.
  • However, husbands were still given favourable treatment: women could not claim grounds for divorce citing adultery alone until 1937.

Jump to other topics

1Introduction to Atonement

2Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part One

3Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Two

4Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Three

5Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Four

5.1Epilogue: London, 1999 - Pages 353-371

6Key Character Profiles

7Key Themes

8Writing Techniques

9Context

10Critical Debates

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