Life for women after the war became extremely restricting as they were told to stay at home. It was as if they were animals that were being forced to stay caged up at their homes. Women took on different strategies to earn the rights and respect that they felt they deserved. Women felt that they were oppressed both economically and biologically. One goal of the movement was to get women to not believe that they were inferior. They had been brainwashed over the decades to feel empty and only important for reproduction. This belief had to be rejected in order for the movement to advance.Despite the legal opportunities women had gained in recent years after WWII women began to argue and opposed of the male dominated society; due to the fact it created a type of sexism that hindered the prosperity of and limited the opportunities for all women. Unless the structure of society was changed, the movement argued that women would continue to be crippled. In the 1960’s, the idea that women were subordinate to men and that their place in life was as a mother, wife, and homemaker outraged members of the women’s movement.
There were various events that occurred during the women’s liberation movement during the years 1960-1970. The equal pay act being one of them ;women began their first step to exclaim their views dramatically by a protest in 1968, Dagenham. It was a strike that led to Equal Pay for woman. The goal of the movement was to remove the general discrimination against women, this included inequalities such as differences in pay between both the male and female genders as well as the stereotypical view of women in society. , this source shows us two cartoon images that may have been used as propaganda to persuade women to join their liberation and support them in getting change. Fortunately, by 1970s, the attitude towards women working had begun to change since it was now far more socially accepted for women to return to work after having children.
Women began to take control of their lives, dependently and independently. During year of 1960s, fertility control became more widespread with the growth of the women’s movement and availability of the contraceptive pills. However, illegal abortion was still killing as well as riving the health of many women. “ALRA led the campaign in support of David Steel MP’s private member’s bill to legalise abortion… Since its passage in 1967 the Abortion Act has been unsuccessfully challenged several times by anti-choice “Pro-Life” organisations that aim to restrict access to abortion. (). The increase in new government laws gave women more legal rights and protection throughout the 1970s. Changes in government such as the acceptance of birth control through The 1967 Abortion Act and the introduction of the contraceptive pill all gave women more power and choice. For many married women, this was an important step because it allowed them to plan their families and to limit the number of children that were born. In a film named “Educating Rita” (Willy Russell, Part 3 of Educating Rita, YouTube) it demonstrates how most men were against the idea of contraceptive pills, as they wanted to have children. However, some women in Britain who wanted to be independent and learn had to suffer the loss of love due to the cause of their husbands leaving them.
Even though women experienced various different events some negative and some positive there was yet still more space for change. The next change that was brought to the life of females was the fashion change which was introduced by a well-known London based model Twiggy. “Twiggy was hired at the age of 16 in 1966, quickly becoming an icon known for her long, false eyelashes, exaggerated eye makeup, and close, cropped hairstyle. After modelling successfully into the early ‘70s, Twiggy worked as a singer and actress and gained several awards” (Twiggy Fashion 1960s by Mei Sawyer).Twiggy had now become and exceptional role model as most girls wanted to be like her they wanted to have the same appearance and look as her; they even went to the extent of going on diets to slim down as stated by Sandra in the book ‘Britain In The 1970’s’ by Michael Hodges “Twiggy made the “skinny look” fashionable. We all had to go on crash diets to slim down.” Fashion started breaking down social/class barriers for other women, who also started wearing mini-skirts.
Ultimately the women’s liberation was a huge success in a way as it gained equality for women in all aspects from birth control to education to fashion and equal pay. Women were no longer made to feel restricted and oppressed as they could take on careers that their mothers may not have been able to do. On the other hand not all women used birth control, not all women even wore miniskirts; in fact not all women even protested as they were comfortable and satisfied in being house wives. However credit must be given to the women that helped in these changes being made and there is yet more that women still have to achieve towards gaining equality even today.