The Changing Role and Status of Women since 1945.

stereotype that it is women who do the housework hence the advert is focused at women only. Source B also backs Source A in that women should go back to their homes and the jobs done by women which were more appropriate for men, as the government stated in the statement issued in 1945.  Sources D and E are useful in telling us why women were unable to gain independence in some respects but do not tell us everything. Source D portrays the pressure from stereotypes which are shown by the successful businesswoman who feels that she needs to look after her children and work at the same time. She wants to be “just” a housewife, which shows that people saw it as mediocre job. Source E is a very stereotypical image of girls and boys, and were used to teach reading to boys and girls immediately after the war until even the 1970s. This shows that the children were being indoctrinated from a very early age which contributed to discouraging women’s independence because the children grew up to believe what they had learnt at school. Women were taught that they were to stay at home and help their mother in the home as girls, and when they grew older they were expected to adopt the role of their mothers as good mothers and wives themselves.The Equal Pay Act and other legislation did not achieve the desired effect from a number of reasons. As is apparent from Source F, laws do not bring about social change because it cannot change the hearts and minds of people, and unless women organise and fight for their rights they will get nowhere. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s many demonstrations and protests took place campaigning to liberate women. The two main groups who fought endlessly for women’s rights were the suffragettes, who tended to be violent and direct in their protests and the suffragists who were more peaceful in comparison. Source G elaborates that although the situation had improved, women were still generally underpaid and most women were still in “dead-end” jobs with little prospect of better pay or promotion. In addition, people who had been educated in the environment that women were inferior beings in comparison to men, and women considered themselves as those who were “supposed” to stay at home, and men were supposed to go out and earn the money.‘Women in Britain are still second-class citizens’  I agree with this statement that to a certain degree women in Britain are second-class citizens because there is still exploitation of women to a great extent. For example, scantily clad women are still seen in tabloid newspapers and many so called “men’s” magazines. There are still not equal numbers of women in highly paid jobs such as MPs, lawyers, doctors and businesspeople. So called “men’s” jobs still are generally occupied by men and women find themselves in jobs where they either do not need to make use of their brains or need to exploit their vulnerability, a prime example of which would be receptionists. All of the sources show that since 1945 to date, the government in particular and men in general, have on the whole been hostile towards women competing with men on both rights and jobs. Women themselves felt that they had a moral responsibility to look after her husband and her children. Many felt that being a housewife was more important than being successful by working as indicated in Source D. Source E, which is an extract from a Janet and John reading book, (which was used even when I was in nursery, shows how quick I was at reading!) indoctrinated children from an early age to show the position and status of men and women. In conclusion, even today, in the 21st century, women are not fully liberated, because the high paid and ‘elite’ jobs, occupations and professions are still dominated by men. Zafar Abbas Naquvi 11 Blue