Gender Inequality in Britain, Questions 1, 2, 3. March 2, 2011.

1. How has the role of women in British politics changed since 1945?

The role of women in British politics has changed significantly in the last 70 years. Around that time, less than 1/5 of British women had jobs, so it would figure that even LESS would be involved in politics, yet today, 22% of the MPs of the House of Commons and 20% of the members of the House of Lords are women, when around 100 years ago, there were none. Granted, this isn't saying that nearly 1/4 of British women are invovled in politics since that's not true, but around 1/4 or 1/5 of British politicians today appear to be women. So while the vast majority of people involved in British politics are men, women are starting to play a more important role, unlike 50-100 years ago when a woman's place in society was often disregarded simply because she was a woman.

2. To what extent did the election of Margaret Thatcher as the first woman prime minister affect the role of women in British society?

Margaret Thatcher's election as the first female prime minister of Britain affected the role of women in British society because she became a role model for British women with political aspirations, and she, being the first female prime minister, began to give women hope in the fact that it was possible to achieve what she did despite the way women were often viewed as less capable than men, and she also made significant changes to Britain in general that showed the general public that a woman was capable of political change. A quote from a British newspaper said "She changed the sense of embarrassment that Britons felt toward the concepts of productivity and profit. She changed British reliance of manufacturing industry just in time, inaugurating the services and information technology industry revolutions." It gave women hope to know that a woman could have such profound influence.

3. How has the evolution of religion in post war Britain affected reproductive rights?

In post-war Britain, several changes were made that are considered 'liberal' changes, for instance the legality of abortion in 1967. It is believed that this, along with other changes such as the effort to obtain gender equality as well as the fact that homosexuality was no longer illegal, coincides with the fact that fewer people went to church. By the 1990s, only 1 in 7 people responded to a survey that they do go to church, and formal professions of faith have become less important amongst those who identified themselves as believers, showing that it is possible that these liberal changes could have also been due to a lesser influence of a collective body of believers, such as a church, on people's minds, since a lot of people identified themselves as believers who don't go to church, or non-believers altogether. The Abortion Act in 1967 made abortion legal, and was at the time considered one of the most liberal abortion laws in Europe, and it allowed for abortion under the following circumstances; to save the woman's life, to prevent grave damage to the woman's physical or mental health, under 28 weeks to prevent damage to the mother, under 28 weeks to prevent damage to the woman's existing children, and if the child was likely to be severely mentally or physically handicapped. Before 1967, legal abortion in Britain was unheard of.