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otc-dramaturgy · 7 years ago

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tbt: When women had to fight for rights

Because obviously that was a long, long time ago. Nothing we have to do now.

At the risk of spoiling everything, our production of MY FAIR LADY is being bumped up a decade (because you really didn’t want to read about the Edwardian period again, did you?). So instead of 1912, it’s 1921, which means women are in quite a different place than they were, because WWI came in between and shook some things up. Still, the women’s rights movement stretched on a good deal before that and a while after. To give you an idea of where our MY FAIR LADY fits in, here’s a selected timeline of relevant events in London.

Timeline of Women’s Rights (from Manchester Metropolitan University)

1867

The London Society for Women’s Suffrage is formed to campaign for female suffrage.

1870

The Married Women’s Property Act allows married women to own their own property. Previously, when women married, their property transferred to their husbands. Divorce heavily favoured men, allowing property to remain in their possession.

1883

The Cooperative Women’s Guild is founded by Alice Acland and Mary Lawrenson. Its aim was to spread the knowledge of the benefits of cooperation and improve the conditions of women with the slogan “cooperation in poor neighbourhoods.”

1901

Census reveals there were a million more women than men in England and Wales. Birth rate dropped to 28.6 per 1,000, from 36 per 1,000 in 1876

1902

A delegation of women’s textile workers from Northern England present a 37,000 signatory petition to Parliament demanding votes for women.

1903

Emmeline Pankhurst formed Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) with daughters Christabel and Sylvia. Motto: Deeds not Words.

1905

First militant acts in support of women’s suffrage. Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kearney serve a prison sentence rather than pay a fine after being found guilty of disrupting an election rally. Their prison sentence brought the campaign for votes for women a great deal of publicity.

1906

Daily Mail coins term ‘suffragette’ for militant suffragists.

The National Federation of Women Workers is set up by Mary MacArthur.

1907

3,000 people march in heavy rain from Hyde Park to Strand in a protest dubbed ‘The Mud March.’

Under the Qualification of Women Act, women can be elected onto borough and county councils and can also be elected mayor.

Henry Nevinson and Henry Brailsford found the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage.

1908

First woman mayor: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson elected at Aldeburgh.

Two hundred and fifty thousand people gather in Hyde Park, London, in support of women’s suffrage.

Women’s National Anti Suffrage League founded. Petition against women having the vote draws 337,018 signatures.

1909.

Women��s National Anti Suffrage League has 10,000 members in 235 branches.

Suffrage organisations use increasingly violent and drastic measures to further the cause.

First case of hunger strikes and force-feeding (Winson Green prison, Birmingham).

1910

Men’s Federation for Women’s Enfranchisement founded.

November ‘Black Friday’ - suffragettes march to Parliament Square and are brutally treated by police; several then die from injuries.

1912

Harold Owen publishes Women Adrfit: The Menace of Suffragism.

1913

E. Belfont Bax publishes The Fraud of Feminism.

The Cat and Mouse Act is passed. The Act permits the release of hunger striking suffragettes from prison when they are on the point of death and their re-arrest when they are partially recovered.

1914

War is declared. WSPU suspends militancy and suffrage work; all imprisoned suffragettes are released.

1915

The first Women’s Institute in Britain is founded in North Wales at Llanfairpwll.

Thousands of women march in Glasgow in response to the greedy rent increases faced by women whose husbands were at war. Out of this came the Rent Restriction Act which changed the housing system and benefited poor people across the country.

1918

The Representation of the People Act gives the vote to women over 30 who owned property.

Bill to enable women to stand for parliament is rushed through both Houses. Eleven women stand for parliament; only one is elected and she declines her seat.

1919

First sportswoman to wear shorts: Elaine Burton, at the English Northern Counties’ Athletics Championships.

1920

Oxford University admits women to membership and degrees, but the statute limited the numbers of women to 1 for every 6 men.

The Sex Discrimination Removal Act allows women access to the legal profession and accountancy.

1921

Unemployment benefits are extended to include allowances for wives.

An amendment is proposed to the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act to make lesbianism an act of ‘gross indecency,’ with the same punishments metered out to gay men. The proposal is defeated, the reason being that it was believed that few women could even comprehend that such acts existed and accepting the proposal would only draw attention to such acts and therefore open them up to a new ‘audience.’

1922

The Law of Property Act allows both husband and wife to inherit property equally.

Criminal Law Amendment Act protected both sexes from seduction up to the age of 16

1923

The Matrimonial Causes Act makes grounds for divorce the same for women and men. Influential acts of 1857 paved the way for this act, which charted the advances of women to gain parity with men and contributed to the broader process of granting civil rights to women.

1924

First woman government minister: Margaret Bondfield became Minister of Labour.

1925

Guardianship of Infants Act. Mothers given equality in custody of children.

1928

Representation of the People Act is amended and allows everyone over the age of 21 to vote.

1929

Age of marriage raised from 12 to 16 for girls and from 14 to 16 for boys.

The first general election in which women are allowed to vote occurs. The election is sometimes referred to as the ‘Flapper Election’ due to the thousands of women turning out to vote.

Women become ‘persons’ in their own right, by order of the Privy Council.

#abouttime

#myfairlady #tbt #throwbackthursday #tbthursday #women's rights #women's march #votes for women #suffrage #suffragette #dramaturgy

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