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Birmingham Women’s fight for Equal Pay.

Pedrocut

Pedrocut

Master Barmmie
Back in 1916 Women teachers were demanding equal pay to their male colleges. In 1917 the Birmingham Association of Women Teachers were fighting against the largest union, the NUT, who had proposed different rates, even though two thirds of the membership were women. Margret Bondfield (NUWT)…"the humility of women had been a fault not a virtue and she urged them no longer to accept £40 a year less than a man doing the same job.”



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Strange thing about 'equality' a few years ago on an afternoon out in Bristol I saw a notice board outside a jobs agency, "Wanted office clerks £6.00 per hour', further down the board 'Wanted HGV drivers £4.50 per hour.' how could that be a true reflection of equality?
 
In this case the thread is about the struggle for equality of pay between men and women for performing exactly the same job.
 
yer if woman do exactly the same type of job as men then they should automatically get exactly the same pay no ifs or buts
 
Eric Gibson said:
Strange thing about 'equality' a few years ago on an afternoon out in Bristol I saw a notice board outside a jobs agency, "Wanted office clerks £6.00 per hour', further down the board 'Wanted HGV drivers £4.50 per hour.' how could that be a true reflection of equality?
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Because those responsible think driving a calculator sitting in an office is more responsible and taxing than HGV drivers
 
Birmingham Gazette April 1936.….looks like the MP for Moseley, Patrick Hanson, comes up with a good excuse for his voting.

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This was in 1936, and I actually think the Government were defeated, but will have to check. As a Birmingham MP I can’t see much about him on the Forum.
 
The 1936 vote in Parliament.

“The government suffered an unexpected defeated in the House of Commons over a motion tabled by Labour's Ellen Wilkinson, one of the most prominent of the pioneer female MPs. It proposed that female civil servants doing the same work as males should receive the same pay. The motion received support from both sides of the House. Other women MPs made major contributions to the debate on both sides of the argument, including the Duchess of Atholl against the motion and Lady Astor in favour. With about 300 MPs there the sitting was quite well attended so the result could not be dismissed as a fluke product of thin attendance.

It dented government prestige, especially as Captain David Margesson, the formidable Chief Whip, had personally fought against the measure. Opposition morale benefited accordingly but there was no practical result. Baldwin refused to be bound by the vote and it was not until long after the Second World War that female civil servants won equal pay.“
 
Whatever the motion, I think I might have gone against it if it was pushed by someone who insisted on being addressed by his army rank. Come to think of it, Captain Margesson does have the ring of Captain Mannering in Dad's army
 
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