Waking up this morning to International Women’s Day with its theme of #EachforEqual made me reflect on how much has changed for women since I was born in the 1960s. It also made me think about how much hasn’t, and how much needs to.
Coincidentally, I happened to watch Made in Dagenham just a couple of ago, crystallising the level of economic change for us. Back in 1968, half of Britain's working women were earning less than five shillings an hour. That year, the machinists at Ford’s Dagenham plant made history when they brought the giant car manufacturer to a standstill with their landmark strike for equal pay and equal recognition as skilled workers.
They were able to increase their pay to 92% of the male rate, and their high publicity campaign led to the introduction of Barbara Castle’s Equal Pay Act in 1970. However, it wasn’t until 16 years later in 1984 when sewing machinists at Dagenham and Halewood again took industrial action against the grading system, that they finally achieved parity.
So where are we now, fifty years since the Act was passed? Well, the pay gap between women and men is still with us - it currently stands at 8.9 per cent, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Other inequalities however have thankfully have been fully eroded in the UK. In 1970s, for instance, women they often needed a signature from their father or husband to obtain credit or make key purchases. In fact, I remember an incident as ‘recently’ as the mid eighties when my husband and I decided to have a new kitchen fitted. I undertook the research and shortlisted a number of suppliers, but when one of the representatives arrived he refused to go ahead with the meeting because my husband wasn’t present! Obviously, we ditched him and went with one of the sensible companies. And as a society we no longer accept that discriminatory and disrespectful corporate practice.
There's also the matter of the contraceptive pill. Obviously, that hasn't posed
issues of gender inequality but when it first arrived in the UK in 1961, it was prescribed for married women only. Often hailed as described as one of the most significant medical advances of the 20th century, it wasn’t actually until 1974, several years after its launch, that it became widely, freely available to all women.
So where are we now, and what needs to change?
A study carried out by Good Money Week in 2019 found that more than a quarter of women have never requested a pay rise, largely because they find the subject awkward. Clearly, we need to be prepared to grasp the nettle and have important conversations at work.
In 2019, only one in three UK entrepreneurs were female in the UK - a gender gap equivalent to 1.1 million missing businesses.
The Hampton Alexander Review found that in 2019, there were only 25 women in chair roles in the FTSE 350.
We devoted countless inches, feeds and posts discussing Tracy Brabin’s off the shoulder dress, Theresa May’s shoes, not to mention Kate’s and Meghan’s outfits. Perhaps it’s time to refocus?
Happy Women’s Day!
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