An essay entitled "Did the 1970s feminist movement amount to a social revolution?" for the Making of Modern Britain AQA history course, full marks produced by an A* student.
“The achievements of the 1970’s feminist movement did not amount to a social revolution”, assess
the validity of this view.
The achievements of the feminist movement within employment, the media, and protest groups,
certainly caused progress for women’s societal positions in the 1970s. A growing number of women
such as Margaret Thatcher and Thea Musgrave were able to become prominent in their respective
fields unseen in previous generations, alongside more anti-discriminatory legislation which improved
female working conditions. Growth of alternative magazines like Spare Rib highlighted and
challenged patriarchal issues, and protest groups contributed to growth in support for victims of
domestic abuse and other issues such as legislative anti-milk measures and the objectifying Miss
London pageant. Whilst this in many regards upheaved women’s positions in society, fundamental
misogyny remained by the end of the decade. There were limitations to the number of women in
employment, police remained reluctant to get involved in domestic abuse cases, labelling them
“private affairs”, and sexist media advertising continued. The achievements of the 1970’s feminist
movement caused progress for women’s societal positions, but it did not amount to a social
revolution.
The feminist movement caused large societal progressions for women in the grounds of
employment. Many women were becoming prominent in several fields than had been seen in
previous generations. Barbara Castle and Jennie Lee were elected as cabinet ministers in the Wilson
government, being Employment and Art ministers respectively, Dorothy Hodgkins became a notable
scientist going on to become the third women to win a chemistry Nobel Laurette, Barbara Hepworth
a sculpture and Thea Musgrave a composer. Significantly within politics, Margaret Thatcher was
elected as the first female leader of the opposition in 1975, being elected as Prime Minister in 1979
and remaining in power until 1990. This demonstrates a significant shift from the previously male
dominated world of Westminster, highlighting the feminist movement’s achievement of improving
women’s positions within employment. This is further true of legislative changes. In 1970, attention
was drawn to how women made little over half of what men did. The Labour Party and TUC both
spoke in favor of equal treatment and equal opportunities for women workers, following the 1968
strike of female sewing machinists. This led to the introduction of the 1970 Equal Pay Act, following
on from the EEC’s Treaty of Rome, guaranteeing equal pay for equal work. The latter widened the
concept of equality. The feminist movement further led to the establishment of the 1975 Sex
Discrimination Act, protecting both women and men against discrimination on the grounds of gender
and marital status. This affected the grounds of education and work, leading to the creation of an
Equal Opportunities Commission which could be used as a court of appeal regarding issues affecting
the two acts. This highlights how the feminist movement certainly caused upheaval to the position of
women within employment. However, features of the patriarchy were not completely dismantled
and presided well into the 1980’s. In the 1979 general election, only 19 women were elected to
parliament (making up only 2.9% of all seats), fewer than any post-war parliament before or since,
with the sole exception of 1951. Kenneth O’Morgan drew attention to how women only made up 1/3
of the workforce, and were particularly limited within the bureaucracy, law, and medicine. This
shows how the achievements of the 1970’s feminist movement caused progress for women’s societal
positions, but it did not amount to a social revolution.
Second wave feminism within the 1970’s further caused improvements and recognition to the
portrayal of women in the media. The term “Women’s Liberation” became coined, with notable
influences on the movement including Virginia Wolf’s “a room of ones own”, Simone de Beauvoir’s
“Le Deuxine Sexe” and Germaine Greer’s “The Female Enuch”, of which argued women were
oppressed by men, this oppression was exercised through societal structures and in turn internalized
by women. Alternative magazines began to pop up, most notably “Spare Rib” (a joke referring to
biblical Eve being fashioned out of Adam's rib, implying that a woman had no independence from the
beginning), and greatly shaped debates about 20 th century feminism. The magazine was founded by
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