Emancipatory Legislation in Britain 1918-1984

This list represents legislative reforms which have contributed towards the emancipation of women and child welfare protection in Britain during the stated period.  Many of these reforms were inititiated by women’s groups or steered through Parliament by women, however this is not exclusively the case. This does not represent a complete list  of such legislation.

 1918

Representation of the People Act – women over thirty with a property qualification or over thirty and married to a ratepayer, were able to vote for the first time.

Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act  – enabled women over 21 to stand for Parliament (even though women between 21 and 30 had no vote).

Maternity & Child Welfare Act – the establishment of infant welfare centres.

Registration of Midwives Amending Act – this adjusted the 1902 legislation.

Affiliation Orders (Increase of Maximum Payment) Act – increased the weekly payment to be made for an illegitimate child from five to ten shillings by the father.

1919

Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act – enabling women to enter the legal profession, women householders to serve on juries, women to become magistrates, extended entrance to the Civil Service.

Nurses Registration Act – the compulsory registration of practising nurses.

Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Act, 1920 – women could recover amounts from maintenance orders from those men who lived elsewhere in the Empire.

 1920

Married Women’s Property (Scotland) Act – rights available in England & Wales were now available in Scotland.

 1921

Deceased Husband’s Brother Act – equalising the situation whereby a woman could now marry her deceased husband’s brother (it was legal for men to marry their deceased wife’s sister).

 1922

Criminal Law Amendment Act – raising the age of sexual consent  in indecent assault  cases from 13 to 16.

Infanticide Act – women accused would no longer be charged with murder where postnatal distress could be proved.

Married Women (Maintenance) Act – under a separation order a woman was entitled to a maximum of forty shillings, and ten shillings per child.

Law of Property Act – equal inheritance rights to one another’s property for wife and husband; also equal rights to inheritance of intestate children’s property.

 1923

Matrimonial Causes Act – equalising divorce.

Bastardy Act – increased the amount to be paid by the affiliation order.

Intoxicating Liquor Act – prevented sales of alcohol to those under eighteen.

 1925

Guardianship of Infants Act– awarding the mother equal rights and responsibilities toward her child/ren with the father.

Summary Jurisdiction (Separation & Maintenance) Act– the grounds on which male or female marriage partners could obtain a separation were extended to cover cruelty, habitual drunkenness, enforced co-habitation by  a partner with a venereal disease.

Widows, Orphans & Old Age (Contributory Pensions) Act – awarded child allowances for widows and further allowances in cases where both parents had died.

Criminal Justice Act – to abolish the presumption that offences committed by a wife in the presence of her husband are committed under coercion.

 1926

Registration of Midwives & Maternity Acts – to regulate this provision by registration and inspection.

Legitimacy Act – legitimise children born out of wedlock when parents subsequently marry.

Adoption of Children Act – formalising adoption through court procedures.

 1927

Nursing Homes Registration Act– to extend the safeguards for women and infants.

 1928

 Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act – enabling women to vote on the same grounds as men.

 1929

Age of Marriage Act – raised the age of marriage for males and females to 16.

Infant Life (Preservation) Act –  abortion to be allowed only in the case where the life of the mother is endangered.

Children (Employment Abroad) Act – improved the protection of children up to 18.

Bastardy (Witness Process) Act – to enable magistrates to compel the attendance of witnesses at affiliation hearings, closing a legal loophole.

Illegitimate Children (Scotland) Act – enabling unmarried mothers to claim improved financial allowances.

 1931

Sentence of Death (Expectant Mothers) Act – abolished the passing of the death sentence on pregnant women.

 1932

Children & Young Persons Act – regulated child employment.

 1933

British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act – enabled women who did not acquire their husband’s nationality to retain their own, avoiding statelessness.

Children & Young Persons Act – protected young people  up to seventeen from ‘exposure to moral danger’.

 1935

Law Reform (Married Women & Tortfeasors*) Act – to amend the capacity, property and liabilities of married women so that a married woman shall be treated as a single woman with respect to liability for her property .

 1936

Midwives Act – every expectant mother was entitled to attendance by a trained midwife and a doctor, if required, paid for by the local authority.

 1938

Inheritance (Family Provision) Act – prevented the disinheritance of spouses (usually wives) and dependent children.

 1945

Family Allowances Act – provided for the payment of child allowances to mothers.

 1948

British Nationality Act – enabling a woman to retain her British nationality unless she legally changed it.

 1949

Married Women (Restraint Upon Anticipation) Act – to equalise, to render inoperative any restrictions upon anticipation or alienation attached to the enjoyment of property by a woman.

 1950

Criminal Law (Amendment) Act – amending an 1885 Act  to bring  prostitutes within the law and protect them against abuse and abduction.

 1954

Children & Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act – to restrict the import of  morally damaging materials.

 1958

Maintenance Orders (Attachment of Income) Act – for arrears of maintenance to women to be deducted direct from earnings with a court order.

Parliament (Qualification of Peeresses) Act  – women who were life peers were admitted to the House of Lords.

Matrimonial Causes (Property & Maintenance Act – regarding the time for making maintenance orders or alimony; the avoidance of disposition to defeat a wife’s claim for financial relief; provision for a former wife from the deceased former husband’s estate.

 1962

Law Reform (Husband & Wife) Act – to amend the law with respect to civil proceedings between husband and wife to give them the same right of action in tort* against each other as if they were not married.

 1963

Public Lavatories (Turnstiles) Act – to abolish the use of turnstiles and payment for access to  women’s public lavatories.

Peerage Act – enabled women who were peeresses in their own right to sit and vote for the first time in the House of Lords.

 1964

Married Women’s Property Act – the right of the wife to an equal share of any money regarded as ‘housekeeping’ money and property derived from a housekeeping allowance in the case of a dispute.

 1967

Abortion Law (Amendment) Act – legalised the provision of abortions within certain parameters of time and medical consent.

 1969

Family Law Reform Act – relating to property rights of illegitimate children; provision for the use of blood tests to determine paternity; the evidence required to establish legitimacy; provision for entering the name of the father  on registration of an illegitimate child.

 1970

Equal Pay Act – a woman is entitled to  be paid the same as a man when she is doing the same or broadly similar work in the same employment.

Matrimonial Proceedings & Property Act – maintenance provision pending suit in cases of divorce, etc; in divorce, financial provision for parties to the marriage and children of the family; transfer of property in divorce; neglect to provide maintenance; protection for children in divorce; abolishing the right to claim restitution of conjugal rights.

 1971

Finance Act – allowed for the separate taxation of a married woman’s earnings.

 1975

Sex Discrimination Act – made it unlawful to discriminate, directly or indirectly on the grounds of sex in housing, employment and training, education and the provision of goods, facilities and services,

Employment Protection Act – ensuring statutory paid maternity leave and outlawing unfair dismissal for pregnant women.

Social Security (Pensions) Act– enabled women to earn a full pension in their own right.

 1976

Domestic Violence Act – in the event of violence against them, to enable married or unmarried women to apply for an injunction against the the man concerned to leave the home.

Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act – to improve the privacy of rape victims during trials.

 1978

Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act – improved maternity employment protection, re payment and job protection.

 1981

Matrimonial Homes (Family Protection) Act – protects the right of both wife and husband to occupy the home and to resist eviction by their partner.

Armed Forces Act – completing the assimilation for all purposes of statute law of the women’s services administered by the Defence Council.

 1983

Equal Pay (Amendment) Act – a woman is entitled to be paid the same as a man when she is employed on work of equal value.

 1984

Matrimonial & Family Proceedings Act – to prevent petition for divorce within one year of marriage; decrees of nullity; welfare of children under 18 re orders for financial relief after divorce; orders for financial relief in cases of neglect to maintain previous agreements; financial assistance where divorce obtained overseas and jurisdiction of the court; duty to notify change of address on persons liable to make payments under maintenance orders.

 

·        Tort: ‘It is a civil wrong independent of contract: it gives rise to an action for damages irrespective of any agreement not to do the act complained of. Torts include such wrongs as assault, battery…trespass….defamation of character.’

Williams, Glanville, Learning the Law  (London, 1982, Stevens & Sons)