17 Feb British womens writing of the Great War Chapter The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the First World War

Pugh argues that enfranchising soldiers primarily and women secondarily was decided by senior politicians in 1916. In the absence of major women’s groups demanding for equal suffrage, the government’s conference recommended limited, age-restricted women’s suffrage. More generally, Searle argues that the British debate was essentially over by the 1890s, and that granting the suffrage in 1918 was mostly a byproduct of giving the vote to male soldiers. Women in Britain finally achieved suffrage on the same terms as men in 1928. Teaching was not quite as easy to break into, but the low salaries were less of the barrier to the single woman then to the married man. By the late 1860s a number of schools were preparing women for careers as governesses or teachers. The census reported in 1851 that 70,000 women in England and Wales were teachers, compared to the 170,000 who comprised three-fourths of all teachers in 1901.

Some water would be heated and added to the wash tub, and perhaps a handful of soda to soften the water. Curtains were taken down and washed every fortnight; they were often so blackened by coal smoke that they had to be soaked in salted water before being washed. Scrubbing the front wooden doorstep of the home every morning was done to maintain respectability.

• The producers recognised that its audience wanted coverage of fashion and glamour, as well as housekeeping, family health and child rearing.
• Clark argues that in 16th century England, women were engaged in many aspects of industry and agriculture.
• Britain was the last major country to train women physicians, so 80 to 90% of the British women came to America for their medical degrees.
• The women supported the war effort, and made the rationing of consumer goods a success.
• Shirley Bassey (1937-) is a Welsh singer from Cardiff known for her theme songs for three James Bond movies.
• In July 1940, shortly after the fall of France, the British government decided to form what was to be called the Special Operations Executive.

Furthermore, the gendered cultural norms and assumptions that inhibit the greater involvement of men in familial work have significant consequences for most working women (Allen and Hawkins, 1999; Evertsson, 2014). Seierstad and Kirton argue that it is very challenging for women to “have it all” – that is, to be committed to their careers, spouses and children. The under-representation of women in high-level positions within the work, social and political environments demonstrate the difficulties of combining multiple roles for women (Grzywacz and Carlson, 2007; Paustian-Underdahl et al., 2016). This article examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s work–family balance . WFB is a much discussed and much sought after – but rarely claimed and achieved – state of being.

Reduced juvenile delinquency and crime rate

Before the Industrial Revolution, women spun yarn using a spinning wheel . Men didn’t spin, and this division of labor made sense because women were trained to have more dexterity than men, and because men’s greater strength made them more valuable in other occupations. In contrast to spinning, handloom weaving was done by both sexes, but men outnumbered women. Men monopolized highly skilled preparation and finishing processes such as wool combing and cloth-dressing. Women used the spinning jenny and water frame, but mule spinning was almost exclusively a male occupation because it required more strength, and because the male mule-spinners actively opposed the employment of female mule-spinners. Women mule-spinners in Glasgow, and their employers, were the victims of violent attacks by male spinners trying to reduce the competition in their occupation.8 While they moved out of spinning, women seem to have increased their employment in weaving .

Perhaps the most famous woman to have served with one of these units was Queen Elizabeth II, who, as an 18-year-old, trained as a driver and mechanic in early 1945. While women could not be directly conscripted into a traditional combat role, they were allowed to volunteer to fight in other ways. Anti-aircraft units were a common feature in the country, especially during the early years when they were used to defend against German planes. Of course, the fact that they were women did not stop them from being attacked.

This study enriches our understanding of the effect of remote working on female employees’ work–family balance during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. At the time, single mothers were the poorest sector in society, disadvantaged for at least four reasons. First, women had longer lifespans, often leaving them widowed with children. Second, women’s work opportunities were few, and when they did find work, their wages were lower than male workers’ wages. Third, women were often less likely to remarry after being widowed, leaving them as the main providers for the remaining family members. Finally, poor women had deficient diets, because their husbands and children received disproportionately large shares of food.

Because not all women worked, and because children usually contributed more to the family budget than their mothers, for the average family the wife contributed only around seven percent of total family income. In the eighteenth century it was common for farmers’ wives to be actively involved in farm work, particularly in managing the dairy, pigs, and poultry. The diary was an important source of income for many farms, and its success depended on the skill of the mistress, who usually ran the operation with no help from men. While servants lived with the farmer at this source https://countrywaybridalboutique.com/european-women-features/british-women-features/ and received food and lodging as part of their wage, laborers lived independently, received fewer in-kind payments, and were paid a daily or a weekly wage. Table Four shows the percentage of laborers who were female at various farms in the late-18th and early-19th centuries. These numbers suggest that female employment was widespread, but varied considerably from one location to the next. Compared to men, female laborers generally worked fewer days during the year.

For instance, performing multiple roles engendered a sense of satisfaction for the women, particularly concerning the positive outcomes from being close to their family members and reigniting family values. For these women, the increase in familial role quality and quantity was deemed important, despite the absence of good working conditions exacerbated by increased role demands and expectations. Despite the variety of policies that have been initiated with the goal of facilitating WFB, research has shown that women continue to experience WFC . This could be due to men’s insignificant contributions to home duties and childcare responsibilities (Milkie et al., 2010). Although WFB policies have been found to contribute to an increased intimacy between women and their children, as well as to their spouses or partners, the inadequate spousal support received by women increases their levels of WFC . Craig and Sawrikar argue that mothers have high levels of stress and workloads regardless of their age of their children, as they remain dedicated to ensuring that their development and well-being are prioritised. A spatial reconfiguration process across organisations through the use of information and communication technologies has facilitated the possibilities of telecommuting and virtual work .

British society credited the new patriotic roles women played as earning them the vote in 1918. However, British historians no longer emphasise the granting of woman suffrage as a reward for women’s participation in war work.

Famous British Women

Nicola Sturgeon (1970-) http://lamaintendue62.fr/marriage/european-women-in-space – is the current leader of the Scottish National Party and the First Minister of Scotland. A former solicitor and law graduate of Glasgow University, Nicola Sturgeon revealed it was Mrs. Thatcher who inspired her to enter politics, as it “was wrong for Scotland to be governed by a Tory government that we hadn’t elected.” Claire Short (1946-) – born in Birmingham, Claire Short represented Birmingham Ladywood as MP and was Secretary of State for International Development under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2003. Catherine Middleton (1982-) – Kate Middleton rivals Katie Price for tabloid inches but is at the other end of the social scale.

Increased domestic workload

Initially, the use of ICT was primarily for supporting employees working remotely as a means of helping them, especially women, balance competing work demands and family responsibilities . However, the reorganisation of the workplace through continuous innovation and creativity within the high-tech industry has resulted in half-empty offices, as organisations’ proclivity for virtual working has increased (Fogarty et al., 2011). Thus, workers are no longer restricted to the four walls of their office space; rather, they are moving work away from the traditional office space to other spaces, such as digital working hubs, coffee shops, shared working spaces or cyberspace . This has reduced face-to-face contact and has promoted the necessary flexibility for achieving WLB . The range and usage of virtual work vary across countries and occupations. They primarily depend on the level of investment in advanced ICT, the expertise of users and the degree of managerial support (Kossek et al. 2014; Clarke and Holdsworth, 2017). Furthermore, the use of virtual working is contingent on the richness, time spent on and frequency of communication (Ferry et al., 2001; Webster et al., 2004).