Back to square one?

Britain's economy suffered a depression in the early 1920s. Unemployment rose. Women were the first to lose their jobs. The war had strengthened the belief that men should be given priority over women when it came to protecting people's jobs. In 1921 the percentage of the female population with a job was 31 per cent - less than the 32 per cent of 1911. Women still at work after the war were often accused of taking jobs from returning war heroes.

But there were some changes in attitude. In 1919 the Sex Disqualification Removal Act allowed women to seek a career in the civil service and the medical and legal professions. In 1920 Oxford University decided to allow women to receive degrees. Marie Stopes set up a birth control clinic in London in 1921. This had been a subject that 'decent' people never discussed.

During the 1920s some women did acquire new freedoms. They were more confident and determined to create new careers and roles for themselves as a result of their wartime experiences. The 'flappers' shocked traditional people by wearing short skirts, smoking and drinking. They flattened their busts and wore short hair to get away from the traditional appearance of femininity. They refused to be chaperoned by an older or married woman when they went out. But these changes generally only affected middle- and upper-class women.

Neil Demarco: Britain and the Great War; Oxford University Press, 1992/2000, page 43