Hello, my name's Mr. Williams and I'm going to be a history teacher for today as we learn about the changing role of women in the post-war period, focusing on the years 1945 to 1975.

I'm really looking forward to teaching you today, so let's get started.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain some of the changes in the lives of women in Britain between 1945 and 1975.

There are four keywords that are essential to understanding today's lesson.

They are discrimination, feminist, equality, and strike.

Discrimination is when somebody is treated unfairly or differently because of certain characteristics, like their race, sex, age, or religion.

A person who believes in social, economic, and political equality between men and women is a feminist.

Equality is the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities.

A strike is a form of protest that involves refusing to work.

Today's lesson is going to be split into three parts and in this first part, we're going to be exploring World War 2 and the role of women in the 1950s.

During the second war, which lasted from 1939 to 1945, the requirement for all women to register for war work meant that women made an even greater contribution than they had done in the first World War and again challenged the idea that they were not capable of doing the same work as men.

Despite this, when World War 2 ended and men were released from the armed forces, they returned to their pre-war jobs.

Therefore, most women had little choice but to return to occupations traditionally considered suitable for women, such as clerical work and nursing, or to return to their homes to focus on housework and childcare.

While many women left paid employment after 1945, not all of the gains made during the war were lost.

Women that continued to work benefited from some new opportunities.

For example, some women took part in government courses designed to help retrain people for peacetime occupations, while others benefited from the government ending the ban on married women working in teaching in the civil service.

During the 1950s, as the country began to recover from World War 2, the British economy prospered, resulting in low unemployment.

Jobs were readily available for women who wanted them and by 1951, women made up about 30% of the workforce.

Despite the increase in the number of women in work, most people still believed that women should focus their time and energy on housework and raising children.

Mass production meant electrical goods were cheaper.

And during the 1950s, most homes had fridges, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners.

While this new technology reduced the amount of time women spent on housework, it also led to increased expectations about what women should be doing to look after their husbands and families.

These expectations were fueled by the new advertising industry, which helped to reinforce traditional beliefs about a woman's role and to emphasise the idea that a woman's place was in the home.

Okay, let's take a moment now to check your understanding.

The statement on the screen says, "When World War 2 ended, most women continued in the jobs they had done during the war." Is this statement true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to find out the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everyone who said that the correct answer was false, but we need to be able to justify that.

On the screen now, are two statements.

Statement a says, "All women were forced to leave their jobs once the war had ended." Statement b says, "Most women returned to jobs that were considered suitable for women or stopped working and returned home." Which of those statements justifies why the original statement is false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to find out the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everyone who said that the best justification was B, "Most women return to jobs that were considered suitable for women or else they stopped working and returned home." Let's have a go at another task.

On the screen is a question that says, "What new opportunities were available to women who wanted to continue in paid employment after World War 2?" I want you to try and think of at least two.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see a model answer.

Okay, you could have written, "There were government courses available to help people retrain for peacetime occupations," or the second thing you could have written was, "The government ended the ban on married women working as teachers and in the civil service." Well done if you've got both of those.

Let's have a go at another task to check your understanding.

There are three statements on the screen.

They're all incorrect.

What I want you to do now is identify and correct the mistake in each statement.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answers.

Okay, well done for all your hard work there.

The corrected statements should read as follows.

Number one, "During the 1950s, the British economy prospered resulting in low unemployment." Number two, "The number of women in paid employment increased." And number three should read.

"Many people believed that women should focus on housework and raising children." Well done if you successfully corrected all three of those statements.

You are now ready for your first practise task of this lesson.

There are two questions on the screen.

The first says, "What factors led to an increase in the number of women in paid employment during the 1950s?" The second question says, "What factors helped to limit the number of women in paid employment during the 1950s?" You may wish to consider the following, new opportunities, beliefs about women, economic recovery, and the advertising industry.

Pause the video now, have a go at these questions, and press play when you are ready to see some model answers.

Okay, well done for all your hard work on those core questions.

The first question says, "What factors led to an increase in the number of women in paid employment during the 1950s?" And you might have written something like this, "One reason there was an increase in women in paid employment during the 1950s was the existence of new opportunities.

For example, after the war, the government ended the ban on married women working as teachers and civil servants.

Another reason for the increase was the economic recovery Britain experienced during the 1950s.

This meant unemployment was low and jobs were available for women who wanted to work." Well done if your answer looks something like that.

The second question said, "What factors helped to limit the number of women in paid employment during the 1950s?" You may have included something like this, "One factor that limited the number of women in paid employment during the 1950s was beliefs about women.

Many people still believed that women were not capable of completing the same jobs as men and that their role should be focused on housework and childcare.

Another factor was the advertising industry, when advertising new electrical goods adverts reinforce the idea that a woman's place was in the home." Well done if you answered the question with something like the answer we've just seen.

We're ready to move on to the second part of our lesson now and in this second part, we're going to be learning about the campaign for equal pay for equal work.

In the period in 1945 to 1975, British women experienced huge levels of discrimination.

Women were paid less than men even if they did exactly the same work and they were far less likely to be promoted.

There was still an expectation that women should work until they were married, and then give up their jobs to raise a family, while their husbands provided for them.

This led many men and some women to argue that women should not expect to be paid as much as men.

Groups began to emerge that campaigned for equal rights and status for women.

Many of the women involved identified as feminists and they demanded social, political, and economic equality with men.

Together, these campaigns, which gathered momentum in the 1960s and '70s, became known as the Women's Liberation Movement or Women's Lib.

Let's take a moment now to check your understanding.

On the screen it says, "Identify some examples of discrimination faced by women in paid employment during the period 1945 to 1975." I want you to try and identify at least two examples.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see a model answer.

Okay, well done there for your hard work on that question.

You could have identified the following.

"Women were paid less than men even if they did exactly the same work." And you could have also written, "Women were far less likely to be promoted than men." Let's try another activity now to check your understanding.

The question on the screen says, "What was the Women's Liberation Movement?" I want you to explain your ideas to a partner and when you do, try and use these words, feminists, equality, campaigns.

Pause the video now, talk to your partner, and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, I hope you had some good discussions.

A model response might have looked something like this, "The Women's Liberation Movement was the name given to the campaigns that took place during the 1960s and 1970s, led by feminists who demanded social, political, and economic equality for women." During the 1960s, women's demands for equal pay intensified.

Feminist groups, like the Force of Society, put pressure on MPs by organising marches and demonstrations.

Another method of protest was for workers to go on strike.

In 1968, female workers at the Ford factory in Dagenham went on strike to protest the fact that they were paid less than men.

After a three week strike, they eventually settled for 92% of the rate paid to skilled male workers.

In 1970, after coming under increasing pressure, the government introduced the Equal Pay Act, which made it illegal to pay women less than men for doing the same work.

However, the law did not come into effect until 1975 and many employers adjusted job descriptions for female workers to avoid paying them equally.

In 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act was introduced, making it illegal to discriminate based on sex or whether someone was married.

For the first time, women were protected from discrimination by law.

However, women who experienced discrimination had to challenge their employer in court and this meant that change was slow.

Let's check your understanding now.

On the screen, there's a question which says, "Why did female workers at the Ford Factory in Dagenham go on strike in 1968 and what was the outcome?" Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see a model answer.

Okay, well done for your work on that question.

You could have written something like this, "Female workers at the Ford factory in Dagenham went on strike in 1968 to protest that they were paid less than men.

The strike ended after three weeks when the female workers settled for 92% of the rate paid to skilled male workers for equivalent skilled jobs." I'd like you now to do another task to check your understanding.

On the screen, there's a table, but it's not complete.

I want you to complete the table by answering the questions.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done for your work on that task.

The first bit of the table you had to complete was saying when the Equal Pay Act was introduced, and the answer is 1970.

You were then asked, "What did the Sex Discrimination Act state?" And you should have written something like this, "It was illegal to discriminate against somebody based on their sex or whether they were married." Well done if you answered that correctly and completed the table successfully.

You're now ready for the second practise task of the lesson.

Laura believes that campaigns to end discrimination against women in the workplace were largely successful.

You can see that she said, "The Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act show that campaigns to end discrimination against women in the workplace were largely successful by 1975." Sophia disagrees.

Imagine you're Sophia.

Write a short response explaining why you disagree with Laura's view.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, well done for all your hard work on that task.

The task was to imagine you were Sophia and write a short response explaining why you disagree with Laura's view that campaigns to end discrimination against women in the workplace were largely successful.

Your answer may have included.

"I disagree because women still experienced significant discrimination.

In response to the Equal Pay Act, many employers changed the job descriptions of their female employees, so they did not have to pay them the same as men.

Additionally, the Sex Discrimination Act made it illegal to discriminate against women at work, but challenging this in the courts was difficult and slow." Well done if you wrote something like that.

Okay, we are now ready for the final part of our lesson where we're going to be learning about the campaign for a woman's right to choose.

One of the most important developments for women in the post-war period was the introduction of the contraceptive pill in 1961, often referred to simply as the pill.

Before the pill was introduced, it was difficult for sexually active women to choose when or if they had children.

This often led to couples having large families, making it even more challenging for mothers to combine childcare with paid work.

As well as greater equality and freedom within relationships, access to the pill gave women more control over their bodies and allowed them to decide if and when to have children, which made it easier for them to plan their careers.

When it was first introduced, the pill was only available to married women.

But partly as a result of campaigning by feminist groups from 1967, it was made available to all women and by 1968, it was being taken by over 2 million British women.

The Women's Liberation Movement also fought for a woman's right to choose by campaigning to legalise abortion.

Before 1967, the only way for women to end an unwanted pregnancy was through an illegal abortion.

These were carried out secretly and often very unhygienic conditions, which put the women's life at risk.

In 1966, 49 women died as a result of illegal abortions and hundreds were seriously injured.

Despite the dangers, many women were prepared to take the risk of an illegal backstreet abortion.

This may have been because they could not afford to have a child or because of the idea that it was shameful to have a child outside marriage, which was still a widely held belief in the 1960s.

As the dangers of illegal abortions were highlighted and women continued to die, public opinion gradually changed in favour of legalising abortion, although many remained opposed to a change in the law.

Eventually in 1967, the Abortion Act was passed, making it legal to have an abortion up to the 28th week of pregnancy.

This was later reduced to the 24th week in 1990.

Let's take a moment now to check your understanding.

On the screen, there's a question.

It says, "How did the availability of the contraceptive pill change the lives of women?" I want you to aim to identify at least two ways.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see some answers.

Okay, well done for your work on that question.

You could have written, "Women had more control over when or if they had children." You could also have written, "It made it easier for women to plan their careers." Finally, you could have written, "Women had more freedom and equality within relationships." Let's try another quick task to check your understanding.

On the screen, there's a statement that says, "The contraceptive pill was made available to all women in 1961." Is this statement true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everyone who said that the correct answer is false, but as always, we need to be able to justify our answer.

So, there's two statements on the screen now.

Statement a says, "The contraceptive pill was only made available to married women in 1967." And statement b says, "The contraceptive pill was only made available to women who were not married in 1967." Which of these statements, a or b, provides the best justification for the fact that our original statement was false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the answer.

Okay, well done to everyone who said that the correct answer was statement b, "The contraceptive pill was only made available to women who were not married in 1967." When it was first introduced in 1961, the pill was only available to married women.

Let's try another quick check for understanding.

There's another statement on the screen.

It says, "Women were unable to get an abortion before 1967." Is this statement true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you ready to find out the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that the correct answer was false, but as ever, we need to justify our answer.

So again, there's two statements on the screen statement a says, "Women were able to get an abortion because it was legalised in 1961." Statement b says, "Women were unable to get a legal abortion, but many women had illegal backstreet abortions before 1967." Which one of these statements provides the best justification that our original statement is false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to find out the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that the correct justification was b.

Women could only get illegal backstreet abortions before the Abortion Act of 1967 made abortions legal.

Let's move on and do another quick check for understanding.

An the screen, Aisha has made a statement.

She said, "Illegal backstreet abortions were dangerous for women." What I want you to do now is identify evidence that Aisha could use to support her points.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see a model answer.

Okay, well done for your thinking on that task.

Let's have a look at what Aisha could have used to support her point.

She could have said, "In 1966, 49 women died because of illegal abortions and hundreds more women were injured." Okay, you are now ready for the final practise task of today's lesson and it split up into two parts.

Let's look at the first part now.

On the screen it says, "Write one paragraph to explain the impact the introduction of the contraceptive pill had on the lives of women." You might find it useful to use these sentence starters "Before the introduction of the contraceptive pill," dot, dot, dot.

"The introduction of the contraceptive pill meant that," dot, dot, dot.

Use those sentence starters to help you write a paragraph explaining the impact of the pill on the lives of women.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see a model answer.

Okay, very well done for all your efforts on that first part of the final practise task.

You could have written something like this, "Before the introduction of the contraceptive pill, women were not able to choose when or if they had children.

And this often meant that people had very large families, which made it difficult for women to combine childcare with paid employment.

The introduction of the contraceptive pill meant that women had more control over when or if they had children and this made it easier for women to plan their careers." Very well done if you've written something similar to that model answer.

Let's move on to the second part of this final task.

On the screen, it says, "Write one paragraph to explain the impact the Abortion Act of 1967 had on the lives of women." Again, you might find it useful to use these sentence starters.

The first one says, "Before the Abortion Act of 1967," dot, dot, dot, and the second says, "The Abortion Act of 1967," dot, dot, dot.

Have a go at writing a paragraph, to explain the impact of the Abortion Act on the lives of women.

Pause the video now and press play when you are ready to see a model answer.

Okay, very well done for all your hard work on that final part of the final practise task.

Let's look at a model answer now.

You could have written something like this, "Before The Abortion Act of 1967, abortion was illegal, which meant that women could only end unwanted pregnancies by seeking out unsafe backstreet abortions that put the women's life at risk.

The Abortion Act of 1967 legalised abortion up to the 28th week of pregnancy.

This meant that women were able to access safe, legal abortions." Well done if you wrote something similar to that model answer.

We're at the end of the lesson now, so it's a really good time to sum up the key learning points from today's lesson.

Let's take a look now.

During the 1950s, the British economy recovered and although many continued to believe that women's role was in the home, there was an increase in women in paid employment.

Women faced significant discrimination during the period 1945 to 1975 and feminists challenged this by campaigning for social, political, and economic equality.

Legislation was eventually introduced to end discrimination against women in the workplace, but it was limited and progress was slow.

And finally, the introduction of the contraceptive pill and the legalisation of abortion had a significant impact on the lives of many women by allowing them to choose if and when they had children.

It's been a real pleasure to teach you today.

I hope you enjoyed the lesson and I look forward to teaching you again soon.