Can we think differently from the times we live in?
As older women we have lived through changing times. Many taking part in this project were born during or just after the Second World War in the 1940s or 1950s. During the war gender roles had to change, a result of necessity, women worked in jobs previously seen as man's work. When the war ended in 1945 there was pressure on both men and women to return to the previous gender roles. Women were encouraged to go back to the home to a domestic life.In our 20s, 30s around the 1970s women were encouraged to have a career. However we were still expected to clean the house, cook as well as look after the children. With our parents generation girls would often have to sacrifice their dreams of a career so that the boys in the family could go on to study.
Is is still a man's world?
Stories from women will give us all an opportunity to see and hear how women were and are seen by men and the society. Women and Health before the National Health Service. Women had always been on the sharp end when it came to dealing with everything from coughs and sneezes to birth, death toothache and chickenpox and the new National health service had an immediate impact on them.
For years their own ailments had been neglected as too expensive to treat. They had stoically accepted that they had to live with chronic conditions such as hyperthyroidism or varicose veins for example," From the book Millions like us. Page 429
Women were incarcerated in mental asylums around 1900 for expressing sexual feeling as they were 'were 'morally insane'.Can women"s recent freedoms be lost taken from them? The abortion act in America has been repealed.
For years their own ailments had been neglected as too expensive to treat. They had stoically accepted that they had to live with chronic conditions such as hyperthyroidism or varicose veins for example," From the book Millions like us. Page 429
Women were incarcerated in mental asylums around 1900 for expressing sexual feeling as they were 'were 'morally insane'.Can women"s recent freedoms be lost taken from them? The abortion act in America has been repealed.
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An archive of stories from older women, their perspectives on Marriage, Mothers, Men, Sex, Women's Rights, Expectations, Dreams, Older Women, gained from a lifetime's experiences. We need these stories to see where we have come from and find out whether there has been any real change in a woman's life.
Attitudes towards women have changed over the decades, centuries formed by the context of the societies at a given time about how women are seen. It would be a male focused viewpoint as it was and is a mans world in most parts of the world. |
About
Throughout most of history women generally have had fewer legal rights and career opportunities than men. Wifehood and motherhood were regarded as women's most significant professions. In the 20th century, however, women in most nations won the right to vote and increased their educational and job opportunities. The Legal Status of WomenThe myth of the natural inferiority of women greatly influenced the status of women in law. Under the common law of England, an unmarried woman could own property, make a contract, or sue and be sued. But a married woman, defined as being one with her husband, gave up her name, and virtually all her property came under her husband's control.
"Gender equality remains unfinished business in every country of the world. Women and girls have less access to education and healthcare, too often lack economic autonomy and are under-represented in decision-making at all levels.
Women’s full and equal participation in all facets of society is a fundamental human right. Yet, around the world, from politics to entertainment to the workplace, women and girls are largely underrepresented." United Nations.
"Gender equality remains unfinished business in every country of the world. Women and girls have less access to education and healthcare, too often lack economic autonomy and are under-represented in decision-making at all levels.
Women’s full and equal participation in all facets of society is a fundamental human right. Yet, around the world, from politics to entertainment to the workplace, women and girls are largely underrepresented." United Nations.
