The Changing Role of Women

In the past women were in many ways thought of as being inferior to men. The typical lifestyle among families was for women to stay at home while men worked, and this was the accepted way of life for both parties. Although certain generalisations still exist much of this has changed, especially over the last hundred years.

A decade ago women there thought so inferior that they were not even allowed to vote. Early in the twentieth century things began to change though. Many protests took place amongst women seeking to gain voting rights, and this led to them being given the vote in 1918. But even then it was only women over the age of 21 who could vote, while the voting age for men stood at 18. It took until 1928 for women to be given equal voting rights. The rights of women across the board have continued to grow ever since.

The old way of life was very rigid in terms of the gender roles and the majority of people lived according to this. The role of a woman was to get married, have children and spend her days at home looking after the children and doing the housework. The workplace was almost exclusively male dominated.

The start of women in the workplace can be attributed to the Second World War. A large number of men were involved in fighting meaning less were available to work in their regular jobs. This meant women had to step in and many worked in factories during this period. Many enjoyed this sense of freedom and wanted to continue once the war was over.

After this women started to want more from their lives and didn’t want to just accept their standing in society. This has led to more working women as time has gone on, something which particularly grew in the 1960’s. Their role in society in general has become more significant across many areas. Much of this came from the rise of feminism with women wanting to be treated equally to men.

Women these days tend to me more independent. They want more from their lives and want to choose how they live. This could be once reason for the increasing divorce statistics over the last fifty years. Women no longer just accept things the way they are; if they are unhappy in their marriage they won’t take it. Could this be one positive of increasing divorce for women? This independence has also meant many more single women.

These days women are generally treated equally to men although some would argue this isn’t always the case. They tend to run their own lives and live how they want, without being pigeon holed by society. They have bigger expectation about what they want to gain from life. Some want to be stay-at-home Mums in the traditional sense but they have more of a choice.

Andrew Marshall ©

Divorce Solicitors London

Divorce Solicitors Bath

Is there a connection between more independent women and marriage and divorce statistics?

In recent times the number of people getting married has fallen significantly, while the number of divorces have been going up. Another trend that has been happening at the same time is that women are becoming more independent. So is there a connection between these two trends.

There was a time when the typical family consisted of a man going out to work, while his wife would stay at home as a housewife and look after the children. There has been a large shift away from this over the past half a century. In the United Kingdom this started to a certain extent during and after the Second World War. With many working men fighting during the war, it was necessary for women to step in and perform jobs traditionally done by men, such as working in factories. Many women enjoyed working, and wanted to carry on after the war was finished. This lead to many more women in the work place, and this trend has continued ever since.

Women have a much more important role in the work place these days than ever before. Whereas once upon a time men were dominant within many industries, women are now equally represented in most working environment. Statistics show that girls tend to get better qualifications than boys, and this can obviously lead to them getting better jobs, and earning more money. So financially women are almost just as likely to be receiving a high salary as men. I say “almost” as likely because statistics show that there are still more men than women in the highest paid jobs in business. However, on average women earn a lot more than they ever have before. This means that women are much more likely to be able to support themselves than fifty years ago. Many can get by fine without having to get married, and if they are married and are getting divorced it may not be such a financial burden.

Part of this is connected to the whole way society has changed. Going back over history in many ways women were treated as second class citizens, but this is no longer the case. Early in the twentieth century women weren’t even allowed to vote. They were unable to vote in Britain until 1917, when women over 30 were granted this right. It wasn’t until another eleven years later, in 1928 when they were given the same voting rights as men. Women in most other countries weren’t allowed to vote until around this time either, with some countries much later.

There was a time when getting married was just what you did. It was almost automatic that everyone wanted to get married. These days many women choose not to. They do not feel forced to, and this is part of the overall independence that women feel they have these days.

Many of these trends also apply to divorce. It is not considered such as issue for women to get divorced and be single again. Divorce is not looked down upon by society like it once was. Being a divorced woman no longer has the negative tag it once did.

Andrew Marshall ©

Family Law Solicitors


Divorce Lawyers London