Intrigued with this topic, and I wondered what “the horrific practice of force-feeding” was that the BBC Woman’s Hour presenter talks about in the first part of the early 1900’s. I know it was to do with the hunger strikes, but don’t know any more than that. Reading the other posts in this section at the Tavern makes me aware of the importance of strong, yet resilient, feminine role models. We can’t all go out and fight wars like the men, but many women find satisfaction in male oriented jobs, and can do this because others paved the way first.
I recall my friend’s mothers saying to us how lucky we were, that we could work as much as we liked. When they became engaged, work practices were so strict, many kept their engagements secret, or they would be instantly dismissed. Married women in the late fifties were considered not suited to a job, and were often “ratted” on by colleagues if anyone found out. This has led to many older women going back to work these days, after raising their children and having a career at last. So they no longer have to miss out for being married.
I liked reading that Dora Montefiore refused to pay taxes until women got the vote in 1904. What a gal, to do that can’t have been the act of a shrinking violet. She must have been a formidable one. Millicent Fawcett looks a formidable woman too, though with a kind of peaceful face, and achieved a lot. Of course then there was always a backlash later, but I can’t help thinking these women did a lot, when not a lot could be done.
Many women thought it “vulgar” to vote alongside their husbands in our local history texts, until they were turned around by listening to speakers that would come here from the United States and UK. Apparently the talk circuit was just as busy as it is today, with people coming from far and wide to teach the folks “down under” what was happening in the world. They had the vote here by 1902, though everyone was not in agreement about it. It must have been a really hot issue.
Have to say I love their hats, those wide brims with full blown roses. Can I borrow one please? 
)
(copyright Imogen Crest 2007.)
7 comments
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April 16, 2007 at 2:57 am
lorigloyd
My mother quit working when she got pregnant with my sister, her first child. I don’t think it was requested that she quick; it was just a given that if a woman was pregnant, she stayed home. In my mom’s case, she never went back to a job outside the home. How things have changed.
April 17, 2007 at 8:26 am
Heather Blakey
My grandmother had to resign from teaching when she married. Married women were not allowed to work at that time. I have only known equal pay for equal work but those just a few years older will recall the difference in wages paid to men and women. The down side of living under a feminist star was that we were expected to be super women and do the lot. Young women are not so foolish today.
April 17, 2007 at 2:51 pm
imogen88
Yes, and it’s amazing to realise there was no such thing as “choice”. And I agree, Heather, it tended to balloon out once women did get the choices, because there was no history to go on. I remember my mother had a book by Shirley Conran called “Down with Superwoman” which she read back in the early 80’s. There was a backlash from what you mention here. I guess now it’s all about wholeness and balance. What think you all?
April 17, 2007 at 3:28 pm
lorigloyd
What I am hearing now is that women who take time out from their careers to raise children for a few years will be out of step with their colleagues who keep working and will earn about 37% less by the end of their careers. This puts added pressure on many women to try to raise their kids and keep working– thus the Superwoman Complex.
April 17, 2007 at 4:00 pm
shewolfy728
I am one of those women who chose to stay home and raise my children and have had nothing but low-end jobs ever since. Even knowing that, I would not do things differently. (At least I like the job I have now and it leaves me time to write.) But still, the fact that it seems to be one thing or another- the job or the kids- doesn’t seem fair. Because they have not been out there making themselves known in the marketplace, many very talented women never get to do what they could do very well indeed. And, despite all that we have gained, women still need to do things better than men to be recognized as equals in many places.
April 17, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Lori
Jane, Bo: you both hit the nail on the head. But what is the answer? What do we teach our girls today? Make your choices carefully because you only get one chance at it?
April 18, 2007 at 7:41 am
cronelogical
I am one of the lucky folk from my generation. Teaching always had equal pay for equal work although principalships etc. were usually for the men! My mother, product of an earlier time, resented most bitterly that her brothers had gone on to school while she, the brightest of the bunch, had to stay at home. My father saw education as the only step toward a bright future and was as proud of his daughters as of his son. My dear mother’s misfortune was my opportunity for she was young enough to look after my children and needed our partnership for her living. I did have the career that suited me and a husband who preferred a working wife to a stay-at-home housekeeper. I do wish that many of the younger women were more aware of the efforts their predecesors made on their behalf. Fran