By Ellie Buontempo
Edited by Charlotte Donnelly and Mark Potter
The passing of the Equal Pay Act, the Sex Discrimination Act and the advent of the first female Prime Minister made feminism redundant for women by the 1980s. Do you agree?
Feminism can be defined as the promotion of women's rights on the basis of gender equality
and has been prominent in English society since the late nineteenth century. The 1970s
superficially seemed like the greatest success of the feminist movement since 1918, having
achieved government recognition of gender inequality in employment which was supposedly
resolved in the Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act, not to mention the appointment of
the first woman, Margaret Thatcher, to the most powerful office in the United Kingdom. This
essay will however advance the argument that the various Acts and accession of the first female Prime Minister did not make feminism redundant. The female reality remained exceedingly similar despite legislation and while Margaret Thatcher may have embodied everything feminism strove to achieve, her words and actions were both regressive and damaging. Firstly, it is fair to suggest that Margaret Thatcher’s career may seem pioneering and symbolic of the feminist movement and thus seemingly prove that feminism may have achieved many of its aims. Her personal victories however were not shared by all British women, and she was extremely harmful for the feminist movement and British women in general. Secondly, the Equal Pay Act of 1970 recognised the financial disparity present within the state but has not proven effective, and feminism remains integral to raising awareness and resolving gender inequality. Thirdly, the Sexual Discrimination Act of 1975 can be considered a token gesture as it has proven to be grossly ineffectual and has provided very little positive change for women even in the Twenty-first century. Finally, the Acts and position of Margaret Thatcher did little to change the social reality experienced by women in Britain in respects to their roles in the workplace. Feminisms continued significance after the 1980s is proven through its third wave which advocated social reform to be more inclusive and diverse, which was fundamental to millions of young people.
Margaret Thatcher obliterated her glass ceiling and achieved remarkable things, but this is not representative of most women in Britain and therefore must be judged accordingly. June Purvis poignantly describes Thatcher as “an outsider in terms of her gender and social class” – she was the daughter of a grocer who then went on to study chemistry at Oxford University, from 1943 to 1947.[1] She was described by a potential employer at Imperial Chemistry Industries as “headstrong, obstinate, and dangerously self-opinionated,” thus outlining some of the initial misogynistic attitudes she faced at the beginning of her adult
life.[2] Thatcher was first elected to parliament as the MP for Finchley in 1959 and became one of twenty five women in the House of Commons, which constituted just four per cent of MPs.[3] In 1975 she became the first female leader of the Conservative Party, where her new position was not welcomed. Many of her own party resented her promotion, including the Vice Chairman who was overheard saying “My God! The bitch has won!"[4] She was not only the first female British Prime Minister, but also the very first woman to lead one of the main western powers, which she did with confidence. Purvis implies that the divisiveness of Thatcher generated different responses and some remember her as the “pioneer of girl power.”[5] Thatcher was also repeatedly scrutinised not only for her policies but for her style and voice, which she was “advised to soften” in order to succeed.[6] Margaret Thatcher succeeded despite the barriers the patriarchy and misogyny placed in front of her and “succeeded against all the odds, in a man’s world,” and therefore her achievements as an individual are significant and deserve respect.[7] To say her position and career however are victories for all women, and therefore render feminism redundant, is far too simplistic. As the feminist magazine Spare Rib stated in May 1979, a mere victory for Thatcher and a woman in Number Ten is not an immediate success for women in Britain.[8] A success for
feminism should be determined by “whether the actual policies of Thatcher, and of the party
which she leads, can promote the interests of women in general.”[9] The advent of the first female Prime Minister is significant but does not make feminism redundant, as her solitary victories are not victories for all women.
Thatcher’s premiership did not foster a positive climate in which female liberation could
evolve, evident in her regressive policies and damaging anti-feminist rhetoric. Thatcher was
known to have called the feminist movement “poison,” a detrimental statement to the
movement for equal rights.[10] She also stated “I owe nothing to women’s lib” – an ironic
declaration considering Margaret Thatcher’s career was only made possible as a result of
historical feminist activists, without who’s activism she would never have been able to sit in
parliament as an MP or in government as the Prime Minister.[11] Not only was her personal
opinion of feminist activism detrimental but her policies while in office meant women
“suffered disproportionately.”[12] Women who were mothers, carers, and often part-time low skilled workers suffered under Thatcherism as a result of her government reforms. Her time in power is renowned for legislative changes which were enacted to reduce “public spending and dependence on the welfare state”.[13] Her premiership saw child benefits freeze which had the potential to threaten one of the most transformative policies yet for women, and Thatcher’s government refused to bend to pressure to improve maternity measures in Britain, which were worse than any other state in the western world at the
time.[14] Not only her policies but even her speeches were regressive as she endorsed an unequal gender divide. In her speech in July 1982, she declared it the woman’s responsibility to “bear the children and run the home,” firmly placing women in the domestic sphere.[15] The advent of the first female Prime Minister did not incur an end to feminism. Thatcher’s policies and rhetoric were both damaging and regressive which was detrimental to the cause for women’s right and further bound women to the domestic sphere, thus further requiring feminism to remedy her harm.
The Equal Pay Act recognised the financial disparity present within the state but has proven
largely ineffective, and thus women continued to suffer pay inequalities and feminism became integral to resolving these problems by raising awareness. The Equal Pay Act published in 1970 states it was created “to prevent discrimination, as regards to terms and conditions of employment, between men and women.”[16] The Act attempts to resolve unequal treatment between genders and was triggered by a strike at the Ford Factory in Dagenham, in 1968.[17] The strike saw eight hundred and fifty female sewing machinists demand a resolution to a pay gap, in which their male counterparts were paid fifteen percent more.[18] Between 1973 and 1993 the average wage of women in the United Kingdom rose as a result of the Equal Pay Act after it was implemented in 1975. Despite this, the average female hourly wage grew from fifty-nine per cent to just seventy-one percent of their male counterparts, meaning women still experienced a pay inequality of twenty-nine per cent.[19] According to the Office for National Statistics in 2000 women still suffered an inequality in pay of twenty-seven per cent for median gross hourly earnings, and in 2020 they reported that it remains at sixteen per cent.[20] Feminism did not become redundant as of 1980, and feminist organisations such as the Fawcett Society are fundamental to resolving the shortfalls of legislation like the Equal Pay Act. They – alongside others – advocated the need for mandatory reporting, which became compulsory for companies with over 250 employees in April 2018.[21] Thus far, the data collected has shown that in these larger companies alone an eighty per cent pay gap exists which favours male employees.[22] The passing of the Equal Pay Act recognised the inequality women faced but has ultimately proven to be futile. Feminist activism over the past forty years has been essential to continuing the movement towards gender pay equality.
Feminism is most definitely not redundant as a result of the 1975 Sexual Discrimination Act,
as the opportunity to seek redress as outlined by the Act was impractical and the Act itself was considerably flawed. The Act states that women will receive “protection from discrimination on the grounds of marriage or marital status,” and that there will be “equality of opportunity between men and women generally; and for related purposes.”[23] Yet should a woman face discrimination when applying for a job, the tools provisioned by the Act for redress are not feasible. The Act states that a woman would need to approach a tribunal and convince its members her application was not successful because of her sex.[24] Therefore, the Sex Discrimination Act is easily undermined by employers who would not want to blatantly admit to sexual discrimination and could easily allege a poor interview or missing personal qualities as grounds for her rejection. The number of cases bought to the tribunal were miniscule, and often the procedures of the case would deter fifty per cent of all cases that were brought.[25] Jo Richardson was a Labour MP, remembered in her obituary as working “day in day out” for women’s issues.[26] Richardson’s feminism is apparent in her work and attempts to correct the Sex Discrimination Act. She proposed changes that would close loopholes and challenge notions within the Act. The bill failed and her solutions were not implemented, but her activism is evidence to suggest feminism remained integral to improving the lives of women in Britain – proof that the Act was not sufficient. The Sex Discrimination Act did not protect women in the work force from sexual harassment and they remain vulnerable in the twenty first century to a gendered power imbalance, which exposes the essentiality for feminism to lobby for reform. The Fawcett Society is a feminist organisation dedicated to achieving equality and women’s rights.[27] Their report from 2018 showed that fifty percent of women have experienced sexual harassment at work and their Chief Executive declared that harassment in the workplace is “endemic and normalised.”[28] The Sex Discrimination Act has not made the workplace safer for women and the Fawcett Society is one of the leading voices calling for the government to strengthen laws on sexual harassment.[29] The very essence of the Sex Discrimination Act is gender equality in opportunity and experience at work, yet the Equality and Human Rights Commission carried out a survey in 2015 which suggests a very bleak reality. One in five mothers have experienced harsh comments or harassment from their colleagues or employers in relation to their pregnancy or potential flexible hours.[30] Alongside this, forty six percent of employers believe it is reasonable to ask a woman if she has young children during the recruitment process.[31] The passing of the Sex Discrimination Act did not make feminism redundant. The Act papered over the cracks of gender inequality in the workplace and thus feminism became more important for women who needed organised support to promote real change.
Feminism remained vital after 1980 and proliferated in the movements’ third wave, which was especially significant to the younger generation who sought significant social change.
Feminism is about far more than solving inequality in the workplace and the third wave sought to demand further social change for women. In 1992, Feminist Rebecca Walker declared the start of feminisms third wave and while this new form is exceedingly difficult to define, it can be understood as more complex and inclusive than previous waves.[32] Rebecca Walker declared the previous generation of feminism was not allowing “for individuality, complexity or less than perfect personal histories.” Although slightly deceptive and hyperbolic, it accurately outlines the critical perspective of some extreme third wave feminists.[33] Audre Lorde an American feminist stated, “there is a pretence to a homogeneity of experience covered by the word sisterhood that does not in fact exist.”[34] Lorde perfectly summarises the difference between second and third wave feminism, with members of the latter group believing the previous movement had suffocated voices in an attempt to unify women.[35] The third wave sought to be more inclusive and less judgemental, with a distinct focus on empowerment and the desire for a level footing with male counterparts as equals in society.[36] The literature makes clear that the third wave of feminism “embraces a multiplicity of identities and the messiness of reality.”[37] Historian Astrid Henry viewed the third wave as a simple rebellion against it predecessor, but this is a gross simplification.[38] I would agree, rather, with Sara Evans who suggests that “older generations have trouble listening to and supporting younger women’s efforts to claim the movement as their own and assert leadership.”[39] Feminism by 1980 was certainly not redundant, and it evolved to represent the new generation of female activists. Feminism remained significant after 1980 as the younger generation proclaimed a new version which was essential to them and has engaged more people in its diverse and engaging rhetoric.
Feminism was most definitely not redundant by 1980 as a result of the Equal Pay Act, the Sex
Discrimination Act, and the advent of the first female Prime Minister. Margaret Thatcher had the potential to be an empowering and pioneering figure who could have bolstered the feminist movement, but her solitary victories are not enough to incur an end to feminism. Thatcher was venomous when speaking of the movement of women’s rights and her policies further confined women to the domestic sphere, which in fact made working mothers’ lives harder. Both the Equal Pay Act and the Sex Discrimination Act recognised the inequality women faced in employment but failed to apply real change. Women still face an unjust pay inequality, discrimination and harassment at work and the path to resolution lays firmly in the hands of feminist organisations to organise and campaign for change. Feminism is more than equality for women in the economy, but in society and life as a whole and the third wave of feminism was essential to many of the younger generation in the 1990s. The third wave engaged many people in its desire for social change and therefore implies that feminism was still significant to society. The reality of life for many British women remained the same despite the legislation and Margaret Thatcher’s role and feminism significance remains wholly intact in the twenty-first century.
Notes
[1] June Purvis, “What was Margaret Thatcher’s legacy for women?”, Women’s History Review, 22/6 (2013), p. 1015.
[2] Imperial Chemistry Industries (Personal Development Assessment) when reasoning the rejection of Margaret Roberts application, 1948.
[3] UK Political Information, “Women MPs & parliamentary candidates since 1945”
<https://www.ukpolitical.info/FemaleMPs.htm> [accessed 29 March 2021].
[4] Dan Amira, “10 Very Sexist Things People Said To or About Margaret Thatcher” Intelligencer, April 2013 <https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2013/04/sexist-margaret-thatcher-quotes-sexism.html> [accessed 7 April, 2021].
[5] June Purvis, “What was Margaret Thatcher’s legacy for women?”, p. 1018.
[6] June Purvis, “What was Margaret Thatcher’s legacy for women?”, p. 1016.
[7] June Purvis, “What was Margaret Thatcher’s legacy for women?”, p. 1016.
[8] Spare Rib, 82 (May 1979), pp. 3 – 4. <https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/spare-rib-magazine-issue-082>. [accessed 29 March 2021].
[9] Spare Rib.
[10] Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister) in conversation with Paul Johnson (advisor).
[11] Donna Sanzone, “Women in Politics: A Study of Political Leadership in the United Kingdom, France and the Federal Republic of Germany”, in C. Epstein and R. Coser (eds.), Access to Power: Cross-National Studies of Women and Elites (London: Taylor & Francis, 2018) p. 44.
[12] Laura Beers, "Feminist Responses to Thatcher and Thatcherism", in Berthezène Clarisse and Gottlieb Julie (eds.), Rethinking Right-wing Women: Gender and the Conservative Party, 1880s to the Present (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2018) p. 176.
[13] Joni Lovenduski and Vicky Randall, Contemporary Feminist Politics: Women and Power in Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993) p. 47.
[14] Martin Pugh, Women and the women's movement in Britain since 1914 (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) p. 280.
[15] Margaret Thatcher, “Dame Margery Corbett-Ashby Memorial Lecture”, July 1982.
[16] United Kingdom Public General Acts, The Equal Pay Act 1970, Chapter 41 (London),
<https://www.legislation. gov.uk/ukpga/1970/41/enacted>. [accessed 29 March 2021].
[17] Daniel Fergurson and Brigid Francis-Devine, “50 Years of the Equal Pay Act” (House of Commons Library, 28 May 2020), <https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/50-years-of-the-equal-pay-act/> [accessed 30 March 2021].
[18] Fergurson and Francis-Devine, “50 Years of the Equal Pay Act”.
[19] Susan Harkness, “The Gender Earnings Gap: Evidence from the UK”, Fiscal Studies, 17/2 (1996), p. 3.
[20] Office for National Statistics, “Gender pay gap in the UK: 2020,” 3 November 2020,
<https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/genderpaygapintheuk/2020#gender-pay-gap-data>. [accessed 29 March 2021].
[21] Fergurson and Francis-Devine, “50 Years of the Equal Pay Act”.
[22] Lauren Godfrey, “Equality deferred: the equality clause fails to correct unequal pay”, Hardwicke, 21 May 2019, <https://hardwicke.co.uk/equality-deferred-the-equality-clause-fails-to-correct-unequal-pay/> [accessed 30 March 2021].
[23] United Kingdom Public General Acts, Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Chapter 65 (London) <https://www.legislation. gov.uk/ukpga/1975/65/enacted>. [accessed 29 March 2021].
[24] Susan Atkins, "The Sex Discrimination Act 1975: The End of a Decade”, Feminist Review, 24/1 (1986), p. 60.
[25] Atkins, “The Sex Discrimination Act”, p. 58.
[26] Tam Dalyell, “Obituary: Jo Richardson”, Independent, October 2011,
<https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-jo-richardson-1391377.html> [accessed 3 April 2021].
[27] Fawcett Society, “Who we are”, <https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/about> [accessed 9 April 2021].
[28] Sam Smethers (Chief executive of the Fawcett society),
[29] Smethers.
[30] Equality and Human Rights Commission, “Pregnancy and maternity discrimination research findings”, <https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/managing-pregnancy-and-maternity-workplace/pregnancy-and-maternity-discrimination-research-findings> [accessed 3 April 2021].
[31] Equality and Human Rights Commission, “Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination”. [32] Rebecca Walker, “‘Becoming the third wave’ from Ms. Magazine", The women’s movement today: An encyclopaedia of third-wave feminism, 1st ed. (2006), pp. 3 – 5.
[33] Rebecca Walker, "‘Being Real: An Introduction’ In to Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism." The Women's Movement Today: An Encyclopaedia of Third Wave Feminism (2006): 19-23.
[34] Audre Lorde, "Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Women", in Wendy Komar and Frances Bartkowski (eds.), Feminist Theory: A Reader (California: Mountain View, 2000) p. 289.
[35] Susan Archer Mann and Douglas J. Huffman, "The Decentring of Second Wave Feminism and the Rise of the Third Wave", Science & Society, 69/1 (2005), p. 59.
[36] Claire Snyder, "What Is Third-Wave Feminism? A New Directions Essay", Signs, 34/1 (2008), pp. 176 – 180.
[37] Snyder, “What is Third-Wave Feminism?”, p. 176.
[38] Astrid Henry, Not My Mother's Sister: Generational Conflict and Third-wave Feminism (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2004).
[39] Sara M Evans, Tidal Wave: How Women Changed America at Century’s End (New York: Free Press, 2003) p. 231.
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