Mass media and social change in Britain, 1882–2004 - 1 Changing patterns…

The idea

Women’s working lives shifted from largely domestic service and textile work in 1882 towards office, factory, professional and service employment by 2004. Direct action exposed injustice: the 1888 matchgirls’ strike at Bryant & May won concessions and helped build unionism among unskilled women; the 1968 Dagenham Ford sewing machinists’ strike over grading led to the 1970 Equal Pay Act. Legislation mattered too: the National Service Act 1941 conscripted women into war work, widening expectations, while the Equal Pay Act 1970 and later sex discrimination law addressed pay and access. Changing attitudes, wartime experience, education and consumer media gradually normalised married women’s paid work, though inequality persisted.

What earns the marks

• Explains that in 1882 most women’s paid work was low-paid, often domestic service, textiles or sweated trades, with marriage commonly ending employment.
• Analyses the matchgirls’ strike 1888 as direct action: publicity, union support and improved conditions, showing how organisation could challenge employers.
• Explains the National Service Act 1941 as legislation directing women into war work, changing attitudes to women’s employment while often being temporary.
• Analyses the Dagenham Ford strike 1968 as direct action over grading, linking it to the Equal Pay Act 1970 and later equal pay debates.
• Evaluates the Equal Pay Act 1970: it required equal pay for equal work but left gaps, so attitudes and enforcement still mattered.
• Assesses continuity: unequal pay, segregation into ‘women’s jobs’ and domestic expectations persisted across the period.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Treating the 1970 Equal Pay Act as immediately ending pay inequality.

  Put it right by noting it covered equal work and was extended later, so gaps remained.

• Assuming all women experienced wartime work as permanently liberating.

  Put it right by explaining many were dismissed or redirected after 1945.

• Describing the matchgirls’ strike as only about wages.

  Put it right by including conditions, fines and union recognition, and its wider symbolic impact.

Exam tips

• Link each key development to a named reason for change: direct action, legislation or attitudes, rather than narrating events.
• Use precise dates and short causal chains, for example strike 1968 → public pressure → Equal Pay Act 1970.
• Balance change and continuity across 1882–2004, noting class, region and marital status differences.