The Role of Women in the 1930/40s
English Lit: AQA A Level Atonement - Specification B, topic 9.2.2
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
Test yourself on The Role of Women in the 1930/40s
Which of these are true of lower-class British women pre-WW2?