Community Cohesion: Attitudes to women

Community Cohesion

KEY WORDS

Sexism-discriminating against people because of their gender(being male or female)

How attitudes to the roles of men and women have changed in the United Kingdom

How attitudes have changed

Women have always had the right to own property but when they married their husband had the right to use their property. During the second half of the 19th century it became the accpeted view that women stay home and look after the children.

Women began to fight for eqaul rights.

The Married Women's Property Act 1882 allowed married women to keep their property seperate from their husband's.

The Local Government Act 1892 gave women the right to stand as councillors.

The Electoral Reform Act 1928 gave equal voting rights for women and allowed them to stand as MPs.

The Equal Pay Act 1970 required employers to give women the same pay as men.

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 made it illegal to discriminate in employment on grounds of gender or whether someone was married.

Why attitudes have changed

• During the First and Second world wars women were called upon to take on jobs normally done by men, proving they could do them just as well.
• The development of equal rights for women in other countries (New Zealand)
• The success of women as councillors and the important contribution of women to developments in health and social care.
• The work of the suffragette movement.
• Social and industrial developments in the 1950s and 1960s led to the need for more women workers and married women to provide a second income.
• The UN Declaration of Human Rights and the development of the Feminist Movement put forward a case for equal rights that could not be contradicted.
• The Labour governments of 1964-70 and 1974-79 were dedicated to the equal rights campaign and passed the Equal Pay Act and the Sex Discrimination Act.

Different Christian attitudes to equal rights for women in religion

1. The traditional attitude of Protestant Christianity

Many Evangelical protestants teach that men and women have seperate roles and so cannot have equal rights in religion. It is the role of women to bring up children and run a Christian home, they should not speak in church and only men can be church leaders and teachers.

• It is the teaching of the New Testament, which they believe is the final word of God. St Paul teaches that women should not teach or speak in church, and uses the story of Adam and Eve…