1. 1
Mothers should stay at home
As humans, we require round the clock care when we are first born as our body needs time, help
and guidance to grow and develop fully. Due to our vulnerability during our adolescence, our ‘life
teachers’ allow us to fully comprehend our mental, physical and emotional processes and help us
change from a dependent child into the person we will become. They offer us moral guidance, food
and care, meaning we need help from all of those around us that have already grown. We are
mammals that rely on various types of nourishment, which is naturally provided to us by all mothers
and needs to occur until we are able to ‘find’ it ourselves. It is therefore vital for all new-borns to be
cared for properly, but also for children to be ‘mothered’ right up until independence can be safely
taken on. This gives everyone the chance to gain nutritional, emotional, medicinal and overall
benefits from care provided, which then allows us to use our teachings and moral standards within
all aspects of life.
As soon as we are born, we require our primary caregivers to aid us throughout our most vulnerable
stages of development, especially when we need comfort, safety and nourishment. Seeing as we
can’t communicate through known language or get things ourselves in our early stages of life, we
totally rely on what is offered to us by our primary caregivers. Therefore, it is vital for parents to be
able to understand and offer what a child truly needs e.g. warmth, food, safety and teachings. For
the majority of us, our most important primary caregiver is our biological mother. She cares for us
throughout the day and comes to us during the night. It is this ‘ability’ from the mother that allows
for a strong emotionally connection with the child, what is known as the ‘bond’, which mostly
creates the moral fibre that we embrace throughout all aspects of adulthood. Motherhood is a full
time ‘job’, which typically in includes little sleep and lots of feedings to contend with. Fitting all this
in with her own life and obligations can be tough for a new mother, especially if there are other
things to contend with too.
Our bodies and minds mature differently from person to person, with our personalities/character
being affected by our own grasp on life that is typically taught to us by all of the influential people
that bring us up, for example; how we see ourselves, our self-worth, how we interact with others,
how we value things, how we value society’s ‘rules’ and our relationships. Our emotions, morals and
ethics are conditioned from our experiences gained throughout our lives, with certain
characteristics, reactions, tendencies and behaviours being developed directly by our mother-child
relationship. Our achievements throughout formal education, our understanding of social
constructs, the impacts from taught cultural/historical influences and our own personal level of
intellect all cause impressions on how we value life, others and the world around us, but we are
often taught how to act, interact and respond by what we see during our early stages, as we ‘model’
how to act by watching and copying our parents. This is how we learn all about the most important
behavioural characteristics, as we see how our parents interact with people and learn how we
should act by witnessing different traits from a very early age. Our abilities to deal with conflicts, use
self-reflection, accept our own emotional development and process our personal inner-beliefs
system is heavily influenced by the activities and experiences that we endure whist growing as a
child, with our morals and ethics often passed onto us by our parents. This gives us unique
perspectives on how we should live during our relatively short lives and shows how important it is
for a parent to instil clear guided and positive lessons onto a child from a young age.
By having a good level of care, it allows us to focus all our energy on growing. It is the ‘parental duty’
of the primary caregivers to provide everything we need during our primary, very vulnerable and
innately basic forms of humanity e.g. new-borns, babies, toddlers, children and young adults. It’s
very important to care for all aspects of a child’s growth, as neglectful parenting also includes a lack

2. 2
of emotional and mental care, but remember that overdoing it also causes problem too. Good
parenting is about finding the right level of care to comfort a child, but also providing a safe space
for them to learn from their environment and grow into independent human beings. We naturally
explore our environment and gathering intelligence from our surroundings, so it is the role of the
primary caregiver to ensure that the environment is safe for us to explore and feel safe doing so.
Without adequate support and care, we would likely not survive as a species, and many would
perish due to; not having sufficient nutrition; suffer from deadly health issues e.g. infections or
getting injured; simply not being strong enough to survive the elements.
Fundamentally, it is society that teaches us the value of childbirth and our understanding of how to
care for a child, with most cultures suggesting that it is the primary role of women to care for
newborns and provide them with food, comfort and safety. It may be this way because women are
seemingly more likely to exude ‘mothering instincts’ that are normally associated with emotions
deemed as ‘feminine’, with a woman’s body naturally being able to provide nourishment for the
baby. The problem is; is it just the ability to be more feminine or provide breast milk all that is
needed to raise a child to become a valued and helpful member of society? Do we ignorantly expect
every mother to instantly meet all of our socially constructed expectations of naturally being able to
care for her child solely based on her being a woman alone? Or is it because we have been taught to
believe that? Babies are typically seen to be put at ease when comforted by their mother compared
to a man or ‘stranger’, but there is no doubt that a father can fully provide for a child, especially as
the development of “formula” and protein rich milks allow the child to be fed without the mother
needing being constantly around to provide breast milk. However, is there still a built in belief that
acknowledges how a mother is able to care for a baby far more naturally than a man? Or have just
chosen to believe this? What about the mother and her own character, desires, beliefs or moral
development? What about those that struggle with what society expects of her outside of
motherhood, does she instantly fit in as soon as she has a child or does it make it even harder for her
to feel accepted if she feels her child would benefit from something other than what is being
offered?
Should every mother have to stay at home full-time to raise the child? What about economic
pressures that are put on us all these days? In order for Western economies to grow, it has become
a requirement that we work longer hours and accept whatever pay is on offer (unless you come
from a wealthy family or are lucky to win the lottery!). It now costs far more than we can afford to
provide the basics; shelter, food and warmth, so we acquire debts that are well out of our reach just
to be able to survive. According to USDA, the cost to raise a child until they are 18 (for every child
that is born after 2011) costs on average $169,080 ($9,050-$9,970 per year), which is based on a
dual-household income of less than $59,410. It is estimated to cost £157.410 for single-parent
households that earn the same amount. The average wage in the USA is $51,939 (2012), so how can
a single mother afford to stay at home to raise her child? The cost of raising a child increases
dramatically as wages increase, with it being $234,900 for those earning between £59,410 and
£79,940. This doesn’t consider where people live, their potential income or breaks in earning,
expected after childbirth. It also doesn’t consider if social demands or debts, changes in
circumstances or lack of work in certain areas. In the UK, the average cost to raise a child is
£231.8432, with the average dual-household income being as little as £22,040 (2013/14). With the
limited help from governments, many mothers are forced to return to work very soon after the child
is born, just so she can help keep the family afloat. What does this mean for the child?
Even with the advances in women’s rights, there is still a distinctive pay-gap and negative association
related to mothers that work. Legal rights for those who have just given birth have only recently
been put in the favour of the woman, which took a lot of fighting and protesting to get a change in
long-term issues of inequality. If the mother is a single parent, she simply has to work to provide

3. 3
basic care for her offspring e.g. suitable housing, nutrition, clothing, water and access to education.
Does this stop her from truly caring for her child? What if she has to work long hours for minimum
wage, does the child suffer because the mother is fighting to provide financially for the family? In
many ways - YES! It often means the mother is not available for the child during the times they are in
most need of comfort or emotional support, plus if the mother works longer hours, the child may be
cared for by others e.g. grandparents or child care professionals, resulting in them adopting different
values and characteristics that could cause negative effects in the child’s future. What if the mother
had emotional issues from her own parents, but the child is forced to be cared for by the
grandparents, would this mean that the child will also have emotional issues as a result? In some
ways – YES! In many other ways – NO!
No person should be made to do something they feel is unsuitable or unbeneficial to themselves or
their health, mothers included. We have definitely seen an increase in the awareness towards the
devastating effects of women in regards to sexism, racism and employment discrimination, but we
still act negatively and poorly against our fellow human and even more detrimentally towards
mothers compared to non-mothers. There are still cultures that characterize women as being less
than a man, with some women living in a modern form of slavery, with many women being treated
even worse once they go into motherhood. We can clearly see that modern media openly push
negative and hate propaganda towards women, with messages of hate being used to brainwash
people in order for someone to visibly ‘win’. It is unmistakably a person’s surroundings, education,
upbringing, culture and viewpoint that cause them to act out in hate, distaste or rage, but what
about the morals and ethics they gain from parents, religion or schooling? Don’t they need to be
blamed too? In many cases, it is a whole mix of things that are to blame, but to stop more atrocities
from happening, we truly need to address the core issues; their character and what caused them to
harbour the hate, rather than focusing blame on religious beliefs or culture.

4. 4
About this book
The title of this book was chosen to shock those that see it and form an opinion without reading
what it aims to teach, highlighting how we are all forced to ‘judge a book by its cover’, mostly due to
what we are taught about women, feminism and motherhood from an early age! We judge
ourselves so harshly and judge others, our own sex and entire cultures incredibly negatively thanks
to our sceptical and stereotypical mind-set that has been pushed onto us by media, education and
society.
This book is aimed at highlighting how important it is for a mother to understand the importance of
a healthy relationship with her and the child, with the information in this book aimed at educating
people about the importance of building a secure and nurturing mother-child relationship, creating a
safe and nurturing environment for the newborn to explore and benefit from their own appreciation
of the experience, and how the health of the mother counts too. The title is in no way telling people
that a woman’s duty is to stay at home, but rather show how important it is for a mother to foster a
loving, caring and supportive relationship with her children, which often means that they do need to
be at home in order to do this. The book has been written to highlight; the problems that us as
humans have caused for ourselves, how society and its constructed expectations of a mother has
caused detrimental conflicts between ourselves that lead onto us developing negative relationships
with our children, how a child models life on what they see the mother doing, how important it is for
women to ‘own’ her own life, and much more…
Within this book, you will discover;
 The importance of a mother in the mother-child relationship, what is parental responsibility
and the problems your child may have if not fully cared for (mentally, emotionally and
spiritually).
 What personality characteristics are gained from a child’s experiences with their
environment, parents and ‘world’, plus why it is important to offer the feeling of safety to
enable the child to interact and experience things from a carefree space.
 The benefits of being around the child throughout their early stages of life, how to talk to
your child and how your actions are imprinted on their future growth.
 How to become a well-rounded individual, how to become assertive and how to be a
positive ‘model’ to enable your child to become mentally and emotionally stable.
 How your own relationships influence your actions with your child.
 Differences between a mother-son and mother-daughter relationship.
 The struggles for women’s rights, how it has been for women throughout history and how
our time is now different for women compared to the past.
 Maternity and working life issues, including; wage-gaps and what maternity leave means for
the child.
 Spiritually connecting with a child and how the mother effects a child’s spiritual growth.
 How a child can grow up after experiencing negative personal experiences with poor
parental care (including case studies).

5. 5
The view of women in this book
Women are humans too and are vitally important in society and within the human race. Women
have been de-valued, with their mistreatment being intentionally done in the favour of certain
people (not just men). This needs to change!!! If there is ever going to be the eradication of negative
behaviour, prejudice or hate, especially regarding inequality, our views on each other needs to
change and remain a positive way of thinking. We should concentrate on how we view and value
ourselves as human beings, which will give our children a better future. We need to make positive
moves towards changing the way women are valued, change how we value ourselves and change
how we accept each other regardless of gender/race/sexuality/religion/wealth etc.
The way we value ourselves is then reflected onto others, with these views being taught to our
children and giving them the understanding that this is the right way to behave. In the Western
world, there has been a noticeable increase in issues regarding self-worth, self-esteem and negative
behavioural traits that often relate to how we saw our mothers act or treat us. We need to develop
our beliefs, morals, ethics, value system and the understanding towards the importance of women
around the entire world to truly overcome adversity and issues with inequality, which often enough
starts at home. This will help us value each other, ourselves, all the different races/cultures, different
religions and people in general. Women are involved within all of aspects of life, so why aren’t they
valued as equally important for their unique contribution? Women and men offer different things,
so it isn’t about women being equal as men, it is more important that their contribution is valued
and respected. The way we value women is a fundamental cause for so much hate around the world,
so instead of one country only allowing equality within certain facets e.g. the workforce, is it not
more important that we develop our understanding of one’s “self”, women in general, what women
offer in society and of course their importance throughout life. We then spread the message around
the world that we need to value all women in a far more positive manner and that this view is vitally
important for the world to become a better place. This could help eradicate so much suffering, from
poverty, war and hate, which in turn will give us a fully peaceful existence the world over. It may be
a difficult concept to believe, but changing the way we see ourselves could be the answer to all the
issues we have suffered over so many years.
The intentions of this book is to educate and create a more open-minded view of women in society,
through the understanding of; the importance of a caring role for a child; how important a mother-
child relationship is when it comes to the child’s own view of their “self”; how important it is to form
an emotionally rich relationship with a child from day one; how important women are within society
and how negative views of mothers need to change; how their own grasp of the mother-child
relationship could change how women see themselves.
The book intends to highlight how women have faced so much adversity throughout history, giving
through a brief depiction of women’s rights and the problems many have faced with sexual
discrimination. It is important that the new generations fully appreciate the struggles that women
have faced to enable people to have a liberated and discriminatory free existence. This aspect of the
book has been included to create a better value of women in general, with the past often being
overlooked by many today, with it being used to then stir up the need for even more change.
Please take this book as a positive way of expressing how important and valuable women are in
society as well as mothers are in the family unit and although the title may seem to be a stark
contrast to the books intentions, the title was also used to highlight how we are so quick to judge
and persecute those that want to make a positive change.

6. 6
Table of Contents
About this book.......................................................................................................................................4
The view of women in this book.........................................................................................................5
Should all mothers stay at home...? .......................................................................................................7
Parenting and the human race today .................................................................................................9
The female of the species.................................................................................................................13
The mystery of men..........................................................................................................................15
Life as we know it..................................................................................................................................18
Historical changes.............................................................................................................................20
Women throughout history..............................................................................................................27
Women who embraced ‘power’.......................................................................................................29
Traditional cultures...........................................................................................................................32
Marriage............................................................................................................................................33
Women and religious expectations ..................................................................................................35
Feminism and femininity ..................................................................................................................40
Parental Responsibility .........................................................................................................................43
Nutrition............................................................................................................................................44
The importance of a mother-child relationship....................................................................................46
Deeper connections..........................................................................................................................53
Media and its effects.........................................................................................................................55
Self-esteem and judgement..............................................................................................................60
Language...........................................................................................................................................65
Active listening..................................................................................................................................72
Assertiveness ....................................................................................................................................74
Theories and Therapy .......................................................................................................................78
The Attachment Theory....................................................................................................................79
Processing the Experience ................................................................................................................82
Patterns.............................................................................................................................................84
Conflict and resolutions....................................................................................................................88
When it goes wrong..........................................................................................................................89
Going back to work...............................................................................................................................95
Poverty..............................................................................................................................................96
The ‘wage gap’..................................................................................................................................97
Maternity Leave................................................................................................................................99
The ‘Motherhood Penalty’..............................................................................................................101
Final thought.......................................................................................................................................102
Case Study 1........................................................................................................................................103
Case Study 2........................................................................................................................................108
Case Study 3........................................................................................................................................112
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................114

7. 7
Should all mothers stay at home...?
The question being asked is; “Should all mothers stay at home?” In a way – YES!!! This answer was
chosen only because it uses the knowledge behind clearly defined benefits regarding a child’s
development associated with a healthy mother-child relationship. What this question does not
address, nor take into any consideration, is the many different aspects relating to questions like;
“Should every woman be forced to stay at home once they become a mother?” or “Does every
woman make a good housewife?”. What it does try to answer is issues surrounding questions like;
“Does every woman make a good mother?”; “Does society make us believe every woman will make
a good mother?”; “Is every mother able to stay at home to raise a child?”
This book is trying to address the simple truth that every child requires their mother to grow and
develop from the beginning of life, therefore, a mother often needs to stay at home in order to fully
care for the child and the safest place to do so is in the family home. This truly isn’t a chauvinistic
view or an argument against women’s rights, in fact it is meant as quite the opposite. The answer
“Yes, mothers should stay at home”, is meant to empower mothers by showing how important they
are within the mother-child relationship and ultimately fostering positive and helpful people within
society through their understanding of themselves, women and their own self-worth. The
information given in the book was included with the hope in making everyone (men and women)
realise the importance of motherhood within the development of society and the overall health of
the society.
Our devaluation of women and our overly cynical view that a woman’s “place” is in the home, has
damaged the way we see ourselves, others and the world. Not every woman makes a perfect
housewife, but please remember that not all men are able to open jars!!! We speak out against
cynical expectations, but in many cases don’t do the right thing to change these views. By
acknowledging that this view is dominant, we are left feeling negative about the other sex, as well as
ourselves. Emotional ‘rules’ or notions that tell us how we should behave limits how far we are able
to go as a human race, causing us to fear an outspoken or intelligent person. We have this
expectation that an outspoken woman is deemed as a liability towards the stability of society, with
her ideas being dismissed purely on the grounds that she is a women. We have seen throughout
society that it is the “powerful” that tell the rest of society that what an empowered woman has to
say is invalidated because it didn’t come from a man. This view is not shared by all, but done in a
way so that the emphasis of the issue being talked about is automatically removed, with what is
trying to be said simply forgotten. Women that try to fight against mistreatment of any kind are
labelled a “pain”, with her voice is totally unheard/quashed, but it is often only done so that those
who are in power can keep acting the way they want. Because we celebrate those in power, we
assume that what they say is gospel and is the way every person feels. By listening to those who
want to protect their ‘worth’ and ‘power’, it leads to other women feeling that their thoughts are
unworthy and this represses an entire gender. Often forgotten is that this also works for men too.
There is a ‘guy code’ that is pushed upon boys from a very young age, mostly by women and
especially by their mothers. Remember that what we see, hear and learn as a child is given to us by
our parents and modelled on all of those around us, so if a woman believes she is inadequate or
repressed, they will often teach their sons that this is how to treat a woman through negative
reinforcement or resentment towards men. This creates an ongoing problem between men and
women and how we are taught to value each other.
In today’s Western society, we are still made to believe that a woman’s job is to raise children,
forcing entire cultures to believe that all mothers need to stay at home and have zero aspirations
about their own life. Many cultures have forcibly stopped a woman’s personal develop due to the
fear that a freethinking mind could topple even the strongest of societies. It may also be because we

8. 8
see the need to care for our young and as the world develops, the meaning and message has been
besmirched. We live our lives in such a way that we over mother our children, to the point that they
are unable to cope on their own or grasp the basic things in life. We have created entire generations
that depend on their caregivers until well into their 40’s, with them then unable to teach their
children how to behave or act. The ‘hidden-truth’ is that women should have a voice, even if we
expect the cause is from having a more emotionally charged outlook on something that others deem
as less important. This will actually benefit all of us, with us being able to openly accept ourselves
and therefore others too. For those within democratic societies, we allow people to be in charge of
the ‘masses’, yet feel obliged to allow their narrow minded, egotistical and one-sided views to be
paramount and gospel. We then develop a fear of speaking out and allow those in charge to
diminish any attempt at change, which is often very biased and gender specific. This message is then
passed down throughout society and onto our children, who are left emotionally repressed and
unable to even communicate the basic wants, desires, fears or issues that they may feel.
We even label women that have made positive changes as being “the first women to…” instead of
simply appreciating her determination and efforts in changing things for the best. Media would
rather diminish her message or accomplishments by pushing the act down by stating that there must
have been adversity caused by her being a woman. We are very fast to attack someone’s ‘worth’ by
making gender the most important part of what has been accomplished, which teaches other
women that it will be simply too hard to speak out because of being a women, rather than it being
important to speak your mind or achieve a goal. Yes it is important to realise that these hugely
important women were the “first” to topple longstanding, oppressive and ongoing issues relating to
inequality, but the message should be taught better and the need for change should be appreciated
compared to there being such a strong justification of gender being the most important part of the
struggle, process and outcome. We should teach our young women that it is important to have clear,
concise and strong values, rather than gender being the most important part of who you are and
what you can achieve. Being the ‘first’ woman to do something that historically involved only men is
hugely important and such a positive for all women, but by labelling the message as being important
solely on her being a women just pushes the gender divide further. It is important to share a
common goal of strength, cohabitation, togetherness and unity between men and women, rather
than media pushing that a woman trying to make a change is just an accomplishment over the
gender divide and that is it. What this sort of labelling is doing is making people believe that women
should fight to be heard, with it being a struggle that many could not take on, rather than pushing
the importance of having a voice and having it heard. The use of words can be a very powerful thing,
so saying “she was the first to create peace” is far more positive than “she was the first president
that helped create peace”. The media uses very clever ways of keeping oppression from ever being
eradicated, so emphasising the message of change and positive outcomes is much more important
than just highlighting that it was a struggle due to gender.
There has been a great deal of external pressures put onto women over many centuries, making
women themselves perceiving that it is solely the woman’s role to rear a child. This has definitely
changed over recent years, but there has always a standard impression that every woman should
dream of being someone’s wife and mother. Isn’t it about time that it changes? A woman should be
able to vote, own her house, become educated, be paid equally to any person who does the same
role (man or otherwise), choose her own direction in life and have free speech, so saying otherwise
is totally wrong and absurd. None of these facets of life should being solely based on someone’s
gender, race, marital status or social standing as they are all created by us, so we have the choice
over how it happens. We created these things, so we can change them.

9. 9
Parenting and the human race today
As humans, we are the most dominant and destructive animal on this plant. We really do need to
change the way we value ourselves to truly benefit from what we have on offer. As a world, we need
to change our consideration of what women can offer and fully adopt a more positive attitude
towards the experiences we have during our lives, regardless of our own or someone else’s gender.
By doing this, we will give ourselves, our children and the upcoming generations the ability to live in
a sustainable and positive future for the human race. We need to create a joint-union with ourselves
that is a far more beneficial to our emotional capabilities and also help ourselves live habitually
alongside one another (and all the other creatures that share this planet with us).
Advances in technology, medicine, transportation and communication have enabled us to live longer
and more ‘free’, but how many of us are now slaves to what we have created. You can see it every
day as our children are becoming fixated on small digital screens, leaving them mesmerised by
marketing and media, whilst being totally unable to openly communicate with others around them.
More and more parent-child relationships are starting to break down, leaving the child emotionally
scarred as a result. As a society, we do not totally understand what a primary caregiver should offer,
which causes confusion, conflict, inadequate personal care and the misunderstanding about the
effects of emotional neglect on a child. We are in a state of society where we believe others tell us
exactly how we should act as a parent, making us do what we perceive society wants us to do, with
us feeling as though we are being dictated about what is right for our children. This often results in
the child left feeling trapped by the demands of their most influential adults, causing a spiralling
effect on how they then treat others throughout their adult life. Our youth are currently being
forcibly made to feel totally unable to truly know what is wanted from society, their parents, their
teachers and their peers, resulting in them feeling inadequate or unable to deliver what is needed to
become a fully accepted member of society. Growing up is hard enough, but we seem to be making
it even harder for children to grow safely, with it being even harder for them to cope once they have
grown up into independent adults. New parents are almost forced to choose the life they want for
their child, where the child goes to school and who their child will become, without the child’s
thoughts, feelings, desires or concerns even coming into the equation or even before the child is
born.
Available funds control what parents can provide for their child, which also affects the quality of
formal education and chances for success throughout the child’s life. It is especially hard when
nutritious foods are far more expensive than cheaper and more accessible ‘fast-food’ options. Most
parents chose the price over the health benefits, meaning the child is actually being neglected rather
than nourished. More and more people rely on accessibility or convenience over good food choices,
with a lot of people now having lost ability to cook for ourselves or make educated choices over the
food we eat and provide for our children. Even at school, children are offered salty, sugar filled and
totally un-nutritious foods over good foods that aid growth. Our children are even at risk of being
chastised if they choose a healthier option. The every growing choice of fast, easy, cheap foods is
actually causing a negative reaction within the child’s health and understanding of what food
actually is. There is now a growing epidemic of childhood obesity around the world, with more and
more kids becoming obese at even younger ages. This impacts their health during all of their vital
and crucial times of growth and physical development, leading to mental and emotional health
issues on top of physical issues caused from being unfit and unhealthy. Obese children are more
likely to grow into morbidly obese adults, mostly due to them being totally uneducated or
misinformed about the value of good food and exercise. Schools have even dropped physical
exercise from their curriculum due to the fear of upsetting children (and parents) because of the
child being unfit. Many parents have even complained when a school tries to introduce healthier
food options, teaching the child that healthy food is not important or valuable. Many schools are

10. 10
unequipped to deal with the increased levels of students that cannot perform physically during more
physically demanding lessons, whilst students feel inadequate due to being unfit or unable to
perform to the same levels of their fitter, healthier peers. These fundamental lessons about food
and exercises causes these children to pass this information onto their own children when they are
older, exacerbating the issue even further.
Childhood obesity is becoming a huge issue around the world, with it creating even greater problems
for the over-stressed, understaffed and underfunded welfare systems. This is especially true in
developed countries, leaving them unable to cope with the demands being put upon them by those
with such poor health due to obesity. What is even scarier is how society turns a blind eye to the real
causes of the fundamental issues behind childhood obesity and refuses to put any actions into place
to make positive changes. Could this be because people fear the obvious? Instead of combating the
real problems, we dismiss the issues, choosing not to change our fundamental value system behind
society, blame parents without offering any real support or guidance, simply choose never to
attempt to remove the actual problems behind things like fast food, and don’t offer any better
solutions behind the things we choose to eat and do.
Parents are forced to work longer hours to cope with the growing financial demands that we
ourselves have created. If we increase the price of the very basic items that we need for a healthy
standard of living, we force ourselves to work harder, more often and for less reward. This means
our children are at a higher risk of being nutritionally, emotionally and intellectually neglected as
their primary caregivers are pushed harder, away more and unable to cope with the demands of
rearing a child in the world they live in. The parent’s psychological and physical health is also just as
important as the child’s. This aspect is often being overlooked and causes just as much harm. Yes it is
important to provide for your child, but at what cost? Does it mean you neglect their emotional or
intellectual health so you are to afford the latest smart phone/gadgets? Spending time with a child is
enormously important, as it teaches them the ability to function in social situations, enables them to
develop healthy relationships and helps them cope with emotionally difficult situations. Talking to a
child correctly and telling them about your own values and experiences enables them to value things
that are important in life. Communicating with a child creates the understanding behind why it is
important to value yourself and others, how important good interpersonal communication is and
how to value other people’s thoughts. It also helps them develop their dreams/aspirations, whilst
seeing a “worth” in connecting with someone close. Remember, it is your duty to raise your child,
which involves the covering all aspects of human behaviour. Rather than letting their education be
from the TV, sitting down and talking to a child will teach them the values of clear and positive
communication.
With the growing demand for families to be financially stable, it has become almost essential for
both parents to work. Even now, the ‘man of the house’ is seen as the main ‘bread winner’, but
women have just as much to give. What if there is a need for the mother to work? Then there
shouldn’t be anything to stop her from doing just that. What if the mother had a higher paying job
before she gave birth? She should then be able to go back to work and offer more financial stability
to the family unit. Does that make her a bad mother? What if she personally has aspirations and
dreams that are outside of being a mother? What if she has the ability to become something
important within a community, society or an industry? Shouldn’t she just do that, rather than being
‘allowed’ to do something she is more than capable of doing herself? As soon as we use worlds like
‘allowed’, we associate it with someone giving authority and assume most in these positions of
power are just for men to have. This outlook means we automatically value woman as being less in
charge of what she is doing or achieving.

11. 11
If a woman has a child, is she then forced to stop any personal development, self-discovery or
‘journey’, just so that she can then become an at-home ‘mother’? Definitely not...! That can also be
changed to mean that if a woman chooses to further a career, she is forced to never have children?
Definitely not...! Either way you say it, there is a notion that a woman has to give up one thing to
have the other. But does life have to be this way??? NO…!!! Women have struggled for years to get
the very basic of rights that we class as ‘important’, but why was it such a struggle? The fighting was
done so that every woman can feel free, make choices, have a voice, share values that are counted
and have a life outside of motherhood or marriage. It wasn’t just to be as important as a man, but to
be valued as a member of society and show that there are benefits to both genders that help
everyone equally, which was all done by highlighting the issues regarding prejudice, discrimination
or judgement based on being a different gender and offer alternatives and positive changes. It
wasn’t just about money or stating men are less-worthy than they think they are, but to show that
there is a need for both genders to work harmoniously and together for a common goal. This was
done so that everyone has an equal chance to change things for the greater good - for everyone, not
just for other women. We have created ‘rights’ that determine us as being as human as another, but
still judge ourselves and stop others from having the same rights too. We still judge someone based
on their race or for having less money than some hyper-rich person that we have never met.
Deeming someone as being unworthy compared to another person shows that there is still
inequality and that will always remain the same as long as we value someone over someone else.
There are typically asked questions that many choose to ask, highlighting the truth behind poor
judgement e.g. “If you were in need of a lifesaving blood transfusion, you wouldn’t turn down a
blood donation just because it came from a working-class black woman would you?” If your life was
on the line, you wouldn’t care about the person’s job, skin colour or place of birth, you would care
about how healthy they are and if you could be saved by the donation of what all of us have. But we
still cause people to live in adverse poverty and look down upon others when we often have no idea
about living a way of life other than our own.
From a very early age, we are all forced to deal with the fact that we are not allowed the same rights
as someone else, which is in fact taught to us by our parents. Not all girls want to play with dolls and
not all boys grow up liking football. We associate with things that our loved ones enjoy, so as we
grow we believe the things we enjoy are best for us just because we watch our parents enjoying the
same things. This could be an item or activity, but fundamentally if our parents show us that
something is good, we have a tendency of liking it too e.g. 1) If a girl see’s their mother in a nice
dress, they may choose to play with a doll because it looks like their mother, regardless of thinking
that girls should play with dolls; 2) If a boy sees their father being emotionally connected to a sport,
they may want to mirror this and tend to grow up liking the feeling of sharing this joy with their dad
rather than actually liking the game itself; 3) A child may like a certain toy because there is a feeling
associated with their caregiver giving it to them rather than the actually toy giving them enjoyment;
4) They may just like the colour or shape, so you can’t associate boys liking one thing and then a girl
not liking the same. What children like is completely unscientific and doesn’t count with every child.
If there is an emotional connection to a parent, a child who is still in the dependent stage of
development, will typically want to make their parent happy and this often makes them copy them.
After all, we are told by our parents that “to be happy, we must to this.” This counts for a lot of
things in life and can help determine how we make decisions and choices later on in life, so it is
important for parents to show truth behind liking or wanting something and also enjoyment from
what we are doing. If a parent tells a boy he must like trucks, he is often left feeling that he should
like trucks rather than liking them because it makes him happy, the same works if parents tell girls
they need to dress a certain way or act a certain way, she is more likely to do it just to make her
parents happy.

12. 12
Specific judgements within society are made worse because someone is brought up in certain social
circles, religions or cultures. Unfortunately, a child has no choice where they are born or what
religion their parents have, so they are forced to grow up believing what is expected, often whole
heartedly and then pass this judgement onto their children, and so on. It’s taken groups of people
years of struggling to get women the same educational, voting and lifestyle rights as a man, but
there is still a noticeably inequality towards women that want to work or study, even by other
women. A woman can spend years of studying to gain the same qualification as a man, yet she
simply expected to end her career when she has a child and become a perfect housewife. This is an
ongoing pressure that is passed down from generation to generation, regardless of developments or
actions taken to change it.
So how can we change life for the better? Firstly we need to establish a pattern where our own self-
worth is better valued and choose to value everyone based on their contribution to the world, their
individual choices and their input. A person’s worth should have nothing to do with creed, colour,
gender or religious beliefs, so why is it? We need to start working together on a vision of the future
that pushes us forward as a human race, where there is no room for inequality or discrimination and
how we can contribute rather than what we are not allowed to do. You may be thinking that this is
too hard, but if we have made ourselves think one way, surely we can overturn it and think another
way entirely.

13. 13
The female of the species
There simply shouldn’t be an issue over equality between men and women, especially seeing as we
do not actually own the planet we live on. The world we live in is purely a construct of our
imagination that suggests that the world is actually ours to control. In reality it is clear that it isn’t
ours and shouldn’t be trifled with. No matter how we want to believe things should be like, our lives
should always be ‘equal’ in our own special way. However, in some ways it should always be
unequal!
Women should have total equality to men in areas of life that we have created ourselves e.g.
employment, ownership, legal rights, politics and social standing, but for us to grow as a united
human race, there needs to be some things that are unequal. This will give praise, accomplishment
and drive to succeed as a united society. Unity is far more beneficial than equality, as we all offer
something unique and that isn’t just between the genders. Simply because there is still an argument
to why women are treated unequally, it shows that there is a fundamental problem that needs to be
solved rather than the act or inequality that clearly takes place. We shouldn’t rely on men to change
their views and accept it, it should simply be done, but with centuries of teachings, that may be
easier said than done (or is it?). If a man is made to decide if a woman can’t do something, whilst the
woman says she should, why is it left to the man to allow the woman to be able to do it? Does that
mean he has control over how she goes about it and even has the power to take it away? NO…! Who
actually gave him the right to make such a decision anyway? It could even be discussed that it was a
woman that taught him this (his mother!).
It is very true that men and women provide us with important differences. What differences that
men and women offer as equally important, positive and creative as the other, but are equally
challenging and damaging too. We have become a triumphant species because of the differences
that men and women put into the mixing pot of life, even from the simplest of things; the
underlining physiological differences between the sexes, the shaping of the things and the world, the
differences of how men and women grasp different human behaviours and the abilities we each
have in using our psychological/human behaviours. This means that both sexes offer unique abilities
and unique differences that should be celebrated as being different (therefore we are not equal, but
united). The different things that men and women offer is how we have created, sustained and
developed the world as we know it, creating a platform for us to live fuller and more rewarding lives.
Why do we celebrate one gender more than the other? Or declare that one is better than the other?
Is it because we have lost the true meaning? Why do we chose to ignore the accomplishments of
one gender based on their sex and express that one is in control of how the other lives? Is that
something we have chosen to believe, or is it caused naturally within the fundamental acts relating
to human behaviour?
Men and women are equally important as one another, because of the different characteristics they
are able to show, enabling us to grow as a united society and in harmony. We should not celebrate
one gender more than the other, we should celebrate that each of us offer something that perhaps
someone else can’t, meaning that it takes everyone to create something truly better for everyone
regardless of gender. This is shown within different cultures and societies, both from the distant past
and those that we see now. It is evident that we needed both sexes to create and develop fledgling
culture, but it is often how much it changes is the problem and ultimate demise. Our social and
cultural value system, knowledge and understanding of human nature, how we value the world
itself, abilities to cope with adversity, how we have grown into intellectually superior animals on this
planet, the development of medicinal and psychological advancements, and the establishment of
better living conditions, have all been thanks to the differences between men and women. This has
been taught to us by various different cultures, but until recently the unity between men and

14. 14
woman has only just become apparent (the internet has helped that the most!). The men and
women that laid the path for us to be where we are today should be celebrated because of their
own abilities and not their ability to overcome what we see as problems/limitations that one gender
is expected to have. There should never be a thought that: ‘men are better than women at this’ or
‘women can’t do that’, it should be ‘we both work to our best to create something better for all of
us.’ A romantic thought, but very true in concept.

15. 15
The mystery of men
Believe it or not, not all men are strong, like football, drink beer, can grow a beard, like fast cars and
can provide the family with the finances to give everyone what is perceived as being needed. One of
the biggest problems behind how women are undervalued is that society still shows such a negative
and hostile outlook on men. Inequality also includes how women value men too! That may anger
some women, but remember that is you value a man based on your assumptions of how he values
women, keeps the hate alive and you will expect men should treat women this way and teach him
that this is the right way to behave. That doesn’t ignore that many men do undervalue women and
discriminate, persecute and judge, that of course is wrong. However, bear in mind that if a mother is
the first interaction a boy has with a woman, how you interact with him he will teach him to grow up
expecting that this is just normal way to treat a woman. In other words, if you express to the child
that women are treated a certain way, or that society expects men to act in this way, he will more
likely act the same. Remember that by saying “men can’t express themselves”, the boy is more likely
to repress his emotions in order to feel accepted by the mother.
We stereotype, judge and chastise those that are different, regardless of gender. By allowing
ourselves to treat someone differently, we remain totally ignorant to the ways in how we can make
a positive change for everyone. We seem to naturally comment and shame those they don’t fit the
‘mould’ or if they act differently to what we perceive someone should behave like. Imagine how
amazing it could be if we just became open-minded, less judgemental and valued people equally.
We should celebrate someone’s difference, especially as it is thanks to their differences that makes
life so interesting. Why can’t we accept difference, rather than constantly discriminating ourselves
based on sex, race, age, appearance and sexuality, which are all things that we have NO control over.
It is often the most judged groups that judge themselves the most. There is often an internal group
struggle that disables their ability to be fully accepted by the rest of society. There is a growing trend
of negative judgmental behaviour that is actually made against others within the same group, with
society often becoming more open-minded thanks to being made more aware of the group itself.
Groups often create their own internal labels that actually encourage hate and discrimination
between the group members themselves, especially if their own differences highlight how different
they are from the ‘norm’ that both the group and society see as ‘acceptable’. This internal group
conflict causes people to form acceptable or unacceptable member ‘types’ that is then taught to
other members and eventually adapted by new members. As time goes on, this makes the group
struggle to remain united, which is reflected by how society views them. Those that were not there
at the beginning will be unable to truly grasp the positives that have been made in creating stability,
safety and equality. This changes the dynamic of the group and turns it away from counteracting
conflict or misguided judgements that occur within a culture or society, as it devalues the structure
of the group’s struggle for equality.
Within society, male homosexuality is still often feared. There is still a huge stigma attached to an
emotional boy and therefore is classed as “gay” and therefore wrong. “Gay” is a term that may have
recently lost its overall negative association with homosexually, with it now being seen as just a term
of jesting or “boyish behaviour”, but it is still deemed as derogative and hurtful because
homosexuality is still seen as being negative or wrong. During early adolescence, boys naturally fight
for their positioning in a group, so when being called “gay” for just showing emotions it will leave
him very repressed and hating his own true feelings, causing the boy to feel like having emotions are
unacceptable for a man to have and therefore never express his emotions in order to ‘fit in’. This is
often reinforced by how women value men, pushed by how women talk negatively, or passive
aggressively, towards a man who shows emotions. Even if the woman feels good about a man
showing emotions, it is often met by comments like “he is different”, “that is rare” or “that is

16. 16
unusual”, leaving the man feeling out casted or judged for just being himself. Likewise, if a mother
verbally suggests she is ‘scared’ for her son being homosexual, it is often because she is scared of
him suffering from negative treatment by others, as it is still socially unacceptable to be
homosexual, rather than it actually due to him being attracted to a man or not producing her a
grandchild. This negative fear is then reflected down to the son and suggests that it is wrong to be
gay because his mother would not like it. Therefore, he will believe that is then wrong to have any
emotions associated with being feminine as it un-manly to feel things or act “gay”, regardless of his
actual sexuality. The mother’s perception of her son having emotions is actually due to her own
upbringing, as her view of men showing emotions was taught to her by her parent’s. Past
generations often viewed emotional men as being less-manly and segregated them from society, so
being emotional was a hugely negative affair. This view came from their parents and so forth. It is
true that a father may harbour levels of homophobia, due to it being seen as a taboo, but it is often
the mother who teaches her son how to be a ‘man’, which can affect the son’s value of how to act in
front of a woman, other men as well as in life.
Male to male contact is always under scrutiny, with a very affectionate hug after scoring in sporting
game is totally acceptable, but comforting your friend when he is in need of emotional care is totally
unacceptable. Men are not allowed to be affectionate towards another men, with this being totally
and utterly associated with sexuality rather than being comfortable and caring with a friend. Being a
gay seems like it will always be unacceptable within society, with the law against being gay only
being overturned very recently. What has become noticeably apparent is the negative discrimination
within the gay community itself. Even when many gay men suffer from adverse and terrible
discrimination within society, there is a growing trend of ‘labelling’ or ‘grouping’ that pigeon holes
certain physical looks, attractions or desires into certain ‘types’ and causes huge emotional problems
for those who are judged. This can be quite devastating for a person, causing difficulties in certain
people from owning their own self-worth. It is often a woman’s acceptance of a man being
‘masculine’ that turns others into accepting that all gay men must be ‘feminine’ or ‘less-macho’. A
‘camp’ heterosexual man is evidence of there being such a poor or misguided view of homosexual
men, which makes the affected man view his own character and feelings as being less worthy or
undeserving of comfort. Many men go throughout life being classed as ‘gay’, just because of their
flamboyant character and if a ‘camp’ straight man states he is heterosexual, his choice is often
dismissed or unaccepted, leaving him being judged based on how he fits in with other ‘groupings’
that may simply be based on how society sees someone similar. This caused sexuality to be
determined by other people’s view of how a man should act, rather than sexuality in itself or
someone’s personality.
The same can be said for those in the lesbian community, with there being a terrible stereotyping
about women who are lesbians. ‘Butch’ lesbians are those that are perceived as being the ‘man’ in
the relationship, simply because of their appearance is ‘similar’ to a man’s. It is almost as if people
have to label who is manlier than each other in order to fit in, or just so someone else can come to
terms with something they simply do not understand. There is also a terrible judgement made about
women who have a less-feminine appearance or fashion style, with these women being classed as
lesbians because people make comments purely based on them looking more ‘masculine’. This has
been seen to cause a trend of women ‘hating’ men, which can be either be dismissed as them not
having ‘been with the right man’ or that she is just an ‘angry’ lesbian. This instils hate in groups that
lead to further issues, simply because there is an underlying fear of being judged without due cause,
or because there is ignorance within those that harbour the same underlying stereotypical views
that is taught to them by society that causes them to act without understanding the fact that those
that are being judged are people too. Men are left believing that lesbianism is there for their sexual
enjoyment, whilst being a gay man wrong. With the growing use of social media, there is a change
being made, but it is still a long and ongoing battle that we really should sort out.

17. 17
There are still obvious gender related issues that our world needs to eradicate, especially when it
comes to how we value a mother’s relationship with their child, but what about how men are
supposed to behave? It is so important to focus on the positives that life can bring, rather than all
the negatives that we ourselves have created. By challenging the way we value others and ourselves,
and choosing a more open-minded view, we can overpower how the ‘powerful’ people feel and
judge. Those that we believe are in charge pass on their hate and ill will just to gain something from
putting others down. By stopping this, it will allow us to grow as human beings and stopping such
horrific things from happening. This can even eradicate things like poverty and war, as we will accept
us all as being one, rather than labelling everyone under terms that always lead to one group having
more power than another.

18. 18
Life as we know it
Men are typically valued for being more capable at doing more physical tasks compared to their
female counterparts, but what is often missed out or underestimated is that women are far more
capable of doing tasks that men can’t do themselves. Anatomically, men and women offer
contrasting physical abilities, contribute different capabilities towards creating and sustaining life for
us all, and all these differences are equally as important in life as the other. However, we are still
being educated to think otherwise, especially at school, at home, in social situations and at work.
Many people are still totally ignorant towards what our bodies actually require to clearly accomplish
all the core ‘needs’ in order to stay alive (shelter, warmth, food and water). Yes it is important to feel
warm and safe in our homes, but that is still achievable in a small dwelling as much as it is in an
imposing one. It may take a man to lift something heavy, but not all men have the physical strength
to do so and there are women that can do the same thing too. What is often lost, is the notion that it
is a person who has the ability to do something great, with them being able to achieve something
due to their abilities, strengths or skills and this has nothing to do with gender.
As a society, we have forgotten our most important ‘needs’ and focus on materialistic things, which
often leads us neglecting our bodies, minds and emotions needs. This causes us to devalue and
forget about the bare necessities to sustain life, with us pursuing the next ‘big thing’ rather than
making healthy and strong relationships or doing things to better our “self”. There is now an entire
generation that believes food arrives pre-made and it is far more important to have the latest gadget
than making time for your loved ones. We now have so many electronics that allow us to talk freely
to friends online, but we completely falter when actually socialising in person. We have become a
society that is fixated on celebrities that have no benefit to society itself and fixate how we do not
look like someone else. We have forgotten how to clearly communicate with our parents, close
friends and fellow humans, whilst being totally unaware of how our actions and behaviours affect
someone else’s emotional state of mind.
The damaging view that every girl needs to become a housewife is slowly becoming the unwanted
vision of younger generations. Thanks to the increased ease and low cost of travel, plus the
prospects of interesting careers opportunities abroad, makes many young people feel the need to
rebel and explore other areas of life. They do this regardless of how their behaviour or actions are
thought of back home and don’t care this lifestyle isn’t deemed as ‘proper’. The desire to explore,
prospects of living a more rewarding life and inspirational stories from those that have travelled,
makes the younger generations want to travel further away from their strict or restrictive home,
often never to return. This means that some of the oldest cultures or long-standing villages are
becoming deserted thanks to there not being anyone to continue their traditions or maintain the
area. If the youth do return, they may want to instil new ideas and ways of thinking that also cause
traditions to change or diminish.
There are still people that keep a very outdated or old-fashioned opinion on the matter of women
within society, causing many cultures to still bring up children who in turn think the same. Perhaps
the reason why people expect a certain lifestyle to be right is not their fault. It is possibly caused by
them being expected to do this too, so they feel the need to continue this tradition or have no
knowledge of an alternative. By forcing people to comply in this pattern has been seen to cause
numerous rifts and conflicts by those who wish to travel the world and explore their own destinies.
Travelling and seeing other cultures opens people’s minds to alternative thoughts and new ideas, so
when these people return to a more restricted way of life, their self-esteem and confidence may be
put at odds due to not sharing the same ideology or aspirations as their family or close friends.

19. 19
For many girls who have other plans than living their lives as a slave to society, their life is deemed
less proper or they are considered as never being able to achieve life’s true purpose. Why can’t a girl
be focused on a career or have other aspirations? Why must every girl comply with these
emotionally neglectful premises of living a fulfilling life? Is producing offspring and caring for her
husband’s every need what every girl wants? There are of course those that do choose this as their
primary want out of life, to which there is nothing wrong at all – what is wrong is societies
expectations that every woman wants this and isn’t completely human if they do not choose it.

20. 20
Historical changes
1867 – The London Society for Women’s Suffrage was formed.
1870 – The Married Women’s Property Act was instated to allow married women to own their own
property. Before this, her property was automatically transferred to the husband upon
marriage. Divorce at this time was heavily in the favour of the man, allowing property to
remain in his possession.
1883 – The Cooperative Women’s Guild was founded by Alice Acland and Mary Lawrenson, who
aimed to spread the knowledge towards the cooperation and improve conditions of women.
1888 – Clementina Black, Secretary of the Women’s Trade Union League, secured the first
successful equal pay resolution at Trade Union Congress.
- 1,400 women that worked at Bryant & May went on strike in protest to poor wages and
dangerous conditions in a matchstick factory.
1902 – The delegation of women textile workers from Northern England presented a 37,000
signatory petition to Parliament that demanded voting rights for women.
1903 – The Women’s Social and Political Union was founded in Manchester by Emmeline Pankurst,
her daughters Christabel and Sylvia and Annie Kearney.
1905 – Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kearney served a prison sentence rather than paying a fine
after being found guilty of disrupting an election rally. This brought a lot of publicity to their
campaign for voting rights for women, which is when the media coined the term
‘suffragettes’ that described the more militant campaigners.
1906 – The National Federation of Women Workers was formed by Mary MacArthur.
1907 – The Qualification of Women Act 1907 allowed women to be elected onto borough and
county councils and also become Mayor.
1908 – 250,000 people gathered in Hyde Park, London, to support women’s suffrage.
1909 – The National Federation of Women Workers, along with many other organisations
campaigned to expose the evils of sweated trades. Propaganda was heavily effective and
played major roles in introducing the Liberal government to pass the Trade Boards Act,
which attempted to fix minimum wages in the most exploitative trades (especially those that
typically using women workers).
1911 – Ethel Smyth, a British writer, feminist and composer, composed the feminist anthem ‘March
of the Women’, to which it was dedicated to Emmeline Pankhurst.
1912 – The ‘Cat and Mouse’ Act was enacted in Britain, which allowed the government temporary
discharge of women prisoners hunger strikes for voting rights for women, until the time they
were fit enough to be imprisoned again.
1913 – There was a massive rally for women’s right to vote held in Hyde Park.

21. 21
1915 – The first Women’s Institute was founded at Llanfairpwll, Northern Wales.
- Thousands of women marched in Glasgow in response to rent increases for those who had
husbands at war. This formed the Rent Restriction Act, changing the housing system and
benefited poor people all across the country.
1916 – Mary Barbour formed the Women’s Peace Crusade, an anti-war group that sought links with
women that were concerned about the war’s effect on families, homes and jobs.
1918 – Women over 30 were granted the right to vote in Britain.
- The Parliamentary Qualification of Women Act was passed, enabling women to stand as
MPs.
- Constance Markiewicz becomes the first ever woman to be elected to Westminster,
representing Sinn Fein. She became involved in radical politics through the Irish National
movement and the suffragettes. She was elected as one of 73 Sinn Fein MP’s for the
constituency of Dublin St. Patrick’s, but declined the position whilst in prison.
1920 – The Sex Discrimination Removal Act allowed women access to the legal profession and
accountancy.
1921 – Unemployment benefits are extended to include allowances for wives.
- An amendment was proposed to the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act to make lesbianism
an act of ‘gross indecency’, which held the same punishments metered out to gay men. The
proposal was defeated, as it was believed that few women could even comprehend that
such acts would exist. It was suggested that accepting the proposal would draw attention to
such acts and therefore open it up to new ‘audiences’.
1922 – The Law of Property Act allowed both husband and wife to inherit property on an equal
standing.
1923 – The Matrimonial Causes Act made grounds for divorce the same for women and men.
Influential acts of 1857 had already created waves and paved the way for this act to be
introduced, which charted the advances for women to gain parity with men, contributing to
a broader process of granting civil rights for women.
1928 – All women in Britain gained equal voting rights.
1929 – This marked the first general election where women were allowed to vote. It is often
referred to as the ‘Flapper Election’ due to thousands of women casting their vote.
- By order of the Privy Council, women become ‘persons’ in their own right.
1941 – The National Service Act was passed, which introduced conscription for women. All
unmarried women that were between the ages of 20 and 30 were called up for war work.
This was later extended to women up to the age of 43, including married women. Pregnant
women and those with young children were still exempt.
1948 – The National Health Service (NHS) was introduced, giving everyone free access to health
care. Previously, it was only those with insurance that benefited, to which it was usually only
men that could afford it.
1956 – Legal reforms in Britain stated that women teachers and civil servants should receive equal
pay.

22. 22
1956 – The Sexual Offenses Act defined rape under specific criteria e.g. incest, sex with girls under
the age of 16, without consent, with the use of drugs, anal sex and impersonation.
1958 – The Life Peerages Act entitled women to sit in the House of Lords for the first ever time.
Baroness Swanbourough, Lady Reading and Baroness Barbara Wooton were the women to
take their seats.
1964 – The Married Women’s Property Act entitled women to keep half of all savings that she had
made from the allowance given to her by her husband.
1965 – Barbara Castle was appointed Minister of Transport, to which she was the first ever female
minster of state.
1967 – Labour MP David Steel sponsored an Abortion Law Reform Bill, later becoming the Abortion
Act, decriminalising abortions in Britain on certain grounds. The Women’s Abortion and
Contraception Campaign then played significant roles in the passing of the act. Abortion had
previously been illegal, but was later changed which made it legal if the woman was in
danger of dying from complications with the pregnancy. In 1938, Dr. Alex Bourne performed
an abortion on a 14 year old rape victim, even though she was in no danger, which later
changed the way the law clarified what was constituted legal practice in relation to
abortions. The ‘Bourne Judgement’ paved the way for doctors to interpret the law more
flexibly. At this time, the contraceptive pill became available through Family Planning Clinics,
which was part of the NHS (Family Planning) Act that permitted health authorities the right
to give contraceptive advice regardless of marital status. The Family Planning Association
(FPA) was formed soon after.
1968 – Women at the Ford car factory in Dagenham went on strike over equal pay, which almost
stopped all production at all of Ford UK’s plants. Their protest directly led to the passing of
the Equal Pay Act 1968.
1970 – At this time, working women were refused mortgages as few women worked continuously.
Women were only granted a mortgage if they had a male guarantor.
- Britain’s first national Women’s Liberation Conference was held at Ruskin College, which was
the first time women’s groups had formed together in one place, which developed into the
Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM). This was extremely influential throughout the 70’s.
- The Equal Pay Act made it illegal to pay women a lower rate of pay than a man who did the
same work. The act covered indirect as well as direct sex discrimination and was the direct
result of the women’s strike action at the Ford plant and pressure from various women’s
movements.
- The Miss World Competition was interrupted by feminist protestors that claimed the contest
was a ‘cattle market’. They threw flour and smoke bombs, which was the first protest event
that was organised by the women’s movement.
1971 – In London, over 40,000 women took part in the first ever Women’s Liberation march.
1972 – In Chiswick, London, Erin Pizzey set up the first women’s refuge.
1974 – The National Women’s Aid Federation was set up to incorporate nearly 40 refuge services
across the UK.
- Contraception became available through the NHS, mostly due to pressures from the
women’s movement.

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1975 – The Sex Discrimination Act made it illegal to discriminate against women in a workplace,
educational setting or during training. The Employment Protection Act introduced stator
maternity provision that made it illegal to fire a woman because she is pregnant.
- 20,000 people formed the largest women’s rights demonstration to date, which was named
the ‘National Abortion Campaign’, which was formed in response to James White’s Abortion
(Amendment) Bill.
- Welsh women drove to Brussels to deliver the first ever petition to the European Parliament
that called for women’s rights.
1976 – The Equal Opportunities Commission came into effect, overseeing the Equal Pay Act and Sex
Discrimination Act. The Race Relations Act made it illegal to discriminate against people in
employment or education based on race. Women’s organisations lobbied to usher in the
Domestic Violence and Matrimonial Proceedings Act that introduced the protection of
women and children against domestic violence. This Act gave new rights to those at risk of
violence through civil protection orders.
1977 – Women’s Aid lobbies the government to acknowledge the women and children that are at
risk of violence as being ‘homeless’ and ask them to introduce the right to receive state help
and provide temporary accommodation.
- There was a yearlong strike at Grunwicks, London, mostly by Asian women workers, to get
equal pay and better conditions.
- International Women’s Day was formalised, with it being an annual event by the UN General
Assembly.
- The first Rape Crisis Centre is opened in London.
1978 – The Women’s Aid Federation of Northern island was established, going on to become the
lead in the voluntary organisation to challenge domestic violence in Northern Island. It goes
on to provide support to over 10,000 women yearly.
- The Organisation of Women of Africa and Asian Descent was established, which is Britain’s
first national black women’s organisation. It brings together all black women from across the
country to form an umbrella group for all black women’s organisations.
1979 – The feminist journal ‘Feminist Review’ is created, going on to play a crucial role in promoting
contemporary feminist debate in the UK.
- Margaret Thatcher becomes the first ever female British prime minister.
- Six women are acquitted through the ‘Reclaim the Night trials’.
1980 – Lesley Abdela forms the ‘300 Group’, pushing for equal representation for women in the
House of Commons.
- Women working for Hoover, Merthyr Tydfil, go on strike against ‘women out first’
redundancy plans.
- Women can apply for loans or credit in their own names.
1981 – Baroness Young is the first woman leader of the House of Lords.
- Welsh group Women for Life on Earth marches from Cardiff to Greenham Common,
Berkshire, to debate and challenge the decision to site 96 Cruise nuclear missiles on the
same site. Upon arrival, they delivered a letter to the Base Commander, stating “We fear for
the future of our children and for the future of the living world which is the basis of all life’.

24. 24
1982 – 30,000 women gathered at the Greenham Common Peace Camp, which remained open for
19 years. During this time, thousands of female protesters visited and lived in the camp.
- The Court of Appeal decided that bars and pubs can no longer refuse service to women.
1983 – Lady Mary Donaldson became the first female Lord Mayor of London.
1984 – The national Black Feminist Conference is held for the first time.
- During the Miners’ Strike, the wives of the picketing miners organise themselves into a
powerful women’s group. At first, they supplied food to the picketers, but soon became
clear how much they wanted to get involved with the strike. Women’s support groups
formed in every mining village, helping to form a working class women’s movement. This
gave the women the means to participate with men, with it becoming a class struggle
against their class enemies. They eventually become national and have conferences and
form an elected leadership, leaving a legacy of common class struggles against sexism,
women’s oppression and capitalism itself.
1985 – The Equal Pay (Amendment) Act secured women to be equal value payment for the same
work as men.
- The first black lesbian conference is held in Britain, with an attendance of over 200 women
of African and Asian descent.
- Campaigning against female genital mutilation by the Foundation for Women’s Health,
Research and Development led to the Prohibition Female Circumcision Act.
- The Local Government Act is narrowly passed in Parliament, singling the abolition of the
Greater London Council. The GLC Women’s Committee was a significant advocate of
women’s equality and a funder for various women’s organisations.
1986 – The Sex Discrimination (Amendment) Act enabled women to retire at the same age as men,
as well as lifting restrictions that prevent women from working night shifts in factories.
- National demonstration of women against violence against women is organised by the
Network of Women.
1987 – Diane Abbot became the first ever black women member of the Westminster Parliament.
1988 - A canteen cook at a shipyard in Liverpool, named Julie Hayward, is the first women to win a
case under the amended Equal Pay Act.
- Section 28 of the Local Government Act makes it illegal for any council or government body
to ‘intentionally promote homosexuality, or publish material with the intention of promoting
homosexuality’. This caused massive demonstrations to take place in London and
Manchester, gaining high profile support from media celebrities and politicians. A group of
lesbians invaded the House of Lords and the BBC Six o’clock news, protesting against this
draconian and homophobic legislation.
- Elizabeth Butler-Sloss is appointed an Appeal Court Judge, the first ever female Law Lord.
1990 – Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill made provisions to licence and monitor the
performance of both fertility treatment clinics and all research using human embryos.
- Independent taxation for women is introduced, meaning married women are taxed
separately from their husbands for the first time.
1991 - The ‘composite tax system’ abolishes the rights for all banks and building societies to deduct
an average (or composite) rate of tax, allowing women more independence and freedom
from their husbands or partners.

25. 25
- Southall Black Sister launched the ‘Free Kiranjit Ahluwalia’ campaign to free her from prison.
She set her violent husband on fire as a final act of survival and was given a life sentence.
- Opportunity 2000, which was strongly supported by the BBC, was launched to push for more
females to be in commerce and public life.
1992 – Kiranjit Ahluwalia is released and her original conviction is quashed, with it being reduced to
manslaughter.
- Better Boothroyd became the first female Speaker in the House of Commons.
1993 – With lobbying from international women’s groups and organisations, the United Nations
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women affirms that any violence against
women is a violation of their human rights.
1994 – ‘Take Our Daughters to Work’ Day is started in the UK.
- The UK government introduces the ‘Changing Childhood’ initiative to make maternity
services more focused on the individual woman.
- After 15 years of serious campaigning by many women’s organisations, rape in marriage is
finally made a crime.
- A ruling within the House of Lords gives equal rights to part-time workers.
1995 – The Disability Discrimination Act includes new rights for disabled people in employment and
access to various services.
1996 – Northern Ireland’s Women’s Coalition was formed to promote the inclusion of women in
social and political life, on an equal footing to all men. It established itself as a new political
party and became influential and a liberalising force within Irish politics. It helped elect two
of its members, Monica McWilliams and Jane Morrice, to the Irish National Assembly.
- Women’s Aid successfully lobbied government for more effective civil remedies for the
protection from violent partners, to which it included automatic powers of arrest where
violence has been used or threatened.
1997 – The UK general election saw 101 female Labour MPs elected to government.
- Southbank Black Sisters secured the first ever conviction of a husband within an Asian
community who raped his wife, with other members of the family also convicted for abusing
the woman.
- The Sexual Offenders Act required all sex offenders to notify police of personal details and
any subsequent changes to them, which resulted in the ‘register of sexual offenders’.
1998 – The European Union passed the Human Rights Act, which guaranteed basic principles of life
for everyone.
1999 – The House of Lords delivered a historic judgement in the Shah and Islam case, where women
that feared gender persecution would be recognised as ‘refugees’.
- A new law on parental leave enabled both men and women to take up to 13 weeks off from
work to care for children under five years of age.
- The Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations made it illegal for employers to
discriminate against Trans people.
2000 – After their long battle to bring a gendered analysis to asylum claims, refugee women’s
groups within the UK were a big reason why the UK’s Immigration Appellate Authority (the
immigration and asylum tribunal) launched the Asylum Gender Guidelines that was to be

26. 26
used in the determination of asylum appeals. This notes that the dominant view of what
constitutes a ‘real refugee’ had previously been only of the men involved, meaning that
women asylum seekers (in the UK) may not benefit equitably from the protection offered by
the Refugee Convention.
2001 – The Mayor of London launched the London Partnerships Register, which allowed lesbians,
gay men and unmarried heterosexual couples to register their partnerships. Linda Wilkinson
and Carol Budd were the first lesbian couple to register their relationship, after being
together for 16 years.
2002 – The UK parliament passed measures that allowed lesbian and unmarried couples to adopt.
2003 – The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations were introduced, which
protected people against discrimination based on their sexual orientation.
- The Female Genital Mutilation Act strengthened and amended the Prohibition of Female
Circumcisions Act 1985. This meant that for the first time, it was an offence for UK nationals
or permanent UK residents to carry out genital mutilation abroad, or to aid, abet, council or
procure the carrying out of female genital mutilation (even in those countries that it is legal
to practice such acts).
- After many years of lobbying, Section 28 was repealed. This was done mostly by voluntary
and community organisations, particularly those within lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) organisations.
2004 – Pauline Campbell organises protests outside HM Prisons Brockhill, Holloway and New Hall,
that raised public awareness to the alarming death toll of women within British prisons.
- A large group of women marched on Parliament in protest of the fact that one in four
retirement women live in poverty.
- Members of the disabled people’s Direct Action Network blockade Westminster Bridge in
protest to the Draft Disability Bill that they believe does not go far enough.
- After many years of campaigning, Trans activists helped recognise the Gender Recognition
Act that allows Trans people that have taken the decisive steps to live fully and permanently
in their acquired gender to gain the legal recognition of that gender.
2005 – The first civil registrations of same-sex couples took place as a result of long campaigning for
the Civil Partnerships Act.
- Within Northern Ireland, women’s voluntary and community organisations (and their service
users) marched on the headquarters of the Voluntary and Community Unit, Department of
Social Development, to deliver a letter that protested about the funding crisis facing the
Northern Ireland women’s voluntary and community sector. As a direct result of this protest,
emergency funding was allocated and mass closures of woman’s organisations were
averted.

27. 27
Women throughout history
Throughout history, there has been a dominant control over the “role” of a woman, but do the
history books tell the complete truth? Even in the Bible, it is Eve that is perceived to be the driving
force behind banishing from the garden of Eden, but was it not them both that made that choice?
Also, Adam needed Eve, hence why she was “created”. What is often forgotten is that Eve would
have been on a dramatic learning curve, with no one ever having gone through puberty, the natural
processes of a woman’s physical development or even given birth before. It would have been left
down to Eve to rear the children, as Adam would have been out hunting and foraging for his family.
Is it right for men to be chauvinistic, to be dominant over women, to be controlling or hold
judgements over women? Totally NOT..! A woman is as much a human as a man is, yet we have seen
such devastating discrimination towards women that makes no sense. Has it been to gain or retain
power? What about the women behind the man? Surely it can be said that a man can’t do it all on
his own and needs a woman’s influence to both become as he is (his mother) and retain the way he
is (a partner)? With women being seen as more caring, the more masculine male leaderships would
have wanted to control the people, so a woman leader would have been dismissed on the outlook
that there would be a risk of disorder due to a more ‘feminine’ or compassionate outlook that could
have stopped empirical developments e.g. stopping wars that typically used religious or
‘development’ arguments that covered the real motives. You can see how women have been valued
lesser than men since the time of the Bible, but in more recent times, men have become slightly less
controlling and women are slowly becoming more empowered. The introduction or gender equality
laws has paved the way to a more equal social order, but there is still an air of discourse towards
how a woman fits into a society and also how men are expected to view women. Even today, girls
are expected to have the ambition of getting married, look after a house and give birth to as many
babies as they can, but why? This is still heavily pushed in certain cultures, especially when a
religious ruling is still rife and pushed upon society from a young age, with some religions still
pushing arranged marriages in certain cultures. Woman are still ‘unseen’, ‘unheard’ and
‘undervalued’ to the point that their lives are totally controlled by their husband or family. There are
even “coming of age” ceremonies where the girl is left totally isolated for up to a year, whilst the
family chooses her bridegroom, and on the “wedding night” the bride cannot object to the
consummation of the marriage.
If we were to look at the timeline of gender equality, we can visually see a change in how women
have begun to be perceived as important aspects of a family unit and in society. It has taken a lot of
fighting for these rights, but are we now beginning to see both sexes are just as important as the
other within a society? Equality is not just about getting rights for women, but about educating
society about how important women are within the world, as are men.
Equality
Gender equality, also known as; sex equality, gender egalitarianism or an egalitarian view, relates to
the viewpoint that men and women should receive equal treatment, where people should not be
discriminated against because of their gender. The topic of ‘rights’ is treated in two ways; Men’s
rights and Women’s rights. The objective of gender equality is therefore aimed at giving people the
ability to acquire, if they so choose, equal treatment socially, politically, in the workplace and any
other policy-designed sphere.
In her book ‘The Book of the City of Ladies’, Christine de Pizan wrote that the oppression of women
in founded on irrational prejudice, later pointing out the numerous advances in society that were
probably created by women. In many ways, she may have been totally right. Although there is a

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more heroic view of men going off to hunt, women would have been socialising, creating a safe and
secure shelter and rearing the young, all tasks that would have developed the early civilizations into
a more rounded society.
The Shakers were an evangelical group that practiced segregation of the sexes, with strict celibacy
rules, but they were actually the early practitioners of gender equality. Some branched off to later
become the Quaker community, immigrating to America in 1774. In 1788, the then head of the
Shaker’s central ministry Joseph Meacham, had a revelation that the sexes should be equal. He then
brought in Lucy Wright to be his female counterpart, where they restructured society to balance the
rights of the sexes. They established leadership teams, where each elder that was placed to deal
with the men’s spiritual welfare were partnered with an ‘eldress’ that did the same for the women.
Their view was that men oversaw men, whilst women oversaw women, women lived with women,
men with men, and a woman was never controlled or otherwise owned by any man.
In respects to the wider laws of the land, women have only recently become to be seen as equal. It
took years for women’s organisations to gain equal rights for women, with huge demonstrations
taking place all over the world, which lead to many arrests of these women as they were classed as
causing social unrest, disturbance or revolt. These demonstrations showed that women were
unhappy with their treatment and that the social practices that undermined women needed to be
changed. This constituted a new understanding of social order, ageing the known social discourse,
scaring those with authority as it defined a more freethinking, open-minded and liberated society.
They secured equal rights for women in the realms of; voting rights, property law, equal pay, sexual
discrimination and the ability to hold office. In more recent years, the United Nations Universal
Declaration of Human Rights holds gender equality as their main objective, seeking to create
equality in law and social situations.
Suffrage
Women’s suffrage was first initiated to gain the right of women to vote in political elections.
Although we know of them in the UK and U.S., there were also national and international groups
formed to get the vote in Finland, Iceland and Sweden. The International Woman Suffrage Alliance
(1904) also worked for equal civil rights for women across the world. It became a very wide ranging
movement that encompassed both men and women. There have been a few coined terms that
labelled those who took part; The typically known ‘Suffragettes’ is the name for those who were
more militant political activists, whilst the ‘Suffragists’ sought to create change constitutionally.
Emmeline Pankhurst was well known within the Suffragette movement, who also formed the
Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903.
Some notable dates for women’s suffrage:
- In 1881, the Isle of Man enacted the Manx Election Act, giving women who owned property the
right to vote in parliamentary elections.
- In 1893, New Zealand granted adult women the right to vote.
- In 1894, women were allowed to vote in the 1895 election in the self-governing colony of South
Australia. Women were also permitted to stand for election too.
- In 1901, all six British colonies of Australia federated and became the commonwealth of
Australia, where all women had the right to vote and stand in federal elections (Aboriginal
women and men were not able to vote till 1962).

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Women who embraced ‘power’
Michelle Obama
Micelle Obama is the 44th
U.S. First Lady and has been highly regarded for her part to play in the
Obama administration. Previous to becoming possibly the most ‘powerful’ women in the world
today, Michelle was a lawyer, Chicago city administrator and community-outreach worker. As first
lady, she has been very focussed on current social issues e.g. poverty, health and education.
Her relationship with her husband Barack has been well documented as being strong, equal and
secure, but many don’t know that when they first met, Michelle was actually Barack’s superior. They
met whilst she was an associate in the Chicago branch of the law firm Sidley Austin, where Barack
became a summer intern and Michelle was appointed as his advisor. This shows that even the most
important man in the world can be left in the charge of a woman! She then pursued a career in
public service, supported other social development programs and became an associate dean of
student services for the University of Chicago. She then went on to be the executive director of
community relations and external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals and then the vice
president for community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Centre. Michelle’s
career was blossoming, but in 2007 she scaled back her working life to attend to family obligations
and help with Barack’s campaign. Even when he was elected as U.S. Senator from Illinois, Michelle
was often seen standing proudly by her husband’s side and his by hers when she delivered speeches.
During her time as First Lady, she has focused a lot of her attention onto supporting military families,
helping support working women balance their career and family life, plus encouraging national
service.
One of Michelle’s best known campaigns has been associated with diet, health and health-and-
wellness causes. She was found to instructing the White House kitchen’s to prepare organic foods
for her family and guests. It was very well published when she helped 23 fifth graders from a local
Washington D.C. school plant a 1,100 square-foot garden on the South Lawn of the White House.
Since 2010, she has put a great deal of effort into the fight against childhood obesity. In 2012,
Michelle announced a new fitness programme for kids that was part of her Let’s Move initiative and
has worked along with the U.S. Olympic team and other sports organised to improve participation
levels in sports.
Michelle shows that with confidence, persistence and drive, anyone can achieve. She came from a
very humble background, where she grew up sharing the living room with her brother where they
put a sheet to act as a makeshift room divider. Yes she has lived in one of the most prestigious
houses in the world, she made the most out of what she was given and shone by her own merits. It
shows that no matter your circumstances, any woman can achieve to an astonishing height and be
as an equal to her husband or any man. Michelle definitely helps Barack be the man he has shown
the world he has been, to which he definitely contributes his success to the love and support that his
wife has given him, so you can definitely say that she is a partner and not just a ‘wife’. Although
many First Ladies have had children living with them in the White House, Michelle has made it
obvious that she and her husband want to still have a rich and full family life. Their daughters, Malia
and Sasha, were still relatively young when Barack took office, but the 1996. Both Michelle and
Barack both stated that their personal priority is their daughters, acknowledging that the move from
Chicago to the White House wouldn’t just be a big adjustment for the two young girls, but the whole
family too. Michelle realised that their political commitments would make life hard as a family, but
she wanted to make sure the girl’s world would be as “normal” as possible, with them having set
study times, bed times and she prioritised the girl’s health over work commitments. She wanted to
make sure the girls were grounded, which has been a great testament to her abilities as a mother
with a very public and stressful life.