How far do you agree that in the years 1918–45 women made substantial gains in their position and status?

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  • How far do you agree that in the years 1918–45 women made substantial gains in their position and status?
    • Thesis: women made substantial gains
      • Political rights/ advancement in politics e.g. 1918/1928, women in parliament
      • Legal position of women improved in the 1920s - divorce/ property rights
      • Employment opportunities e.g. legal restrictions on jobs lifted, new jobs for women
      • Smaller families 1930s- opportunities to work/ improved health/living conditions
      • Social sphere - wage earners in could enjoy leisure/ consumerables - new/'liberating' trends in fashion/social engagement
      • WW2 - employment opportunities/ psychological gains - contributed to win
    • Antithesis: limited gains to the position/ status of women 1918-45
      • little progress in politics - limited women MPs/ government ministers
      • New jobs required good literacy/numeracy were called unskilled - required to stop work post-marriage
      • Lower wages, inferior employment conditions, considered lesser by many TUs
      • Working-class women benefited less from changes than the middle-classes e.g. divorce/ contraception/ higher education
      • Gains in social sphere, but most expected to carry out 'traditional' roles (housewife/mother)
      • Despite wartime gains, opportunities in war were seen as sacrifices/ returned to norms in peacetime

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