§ 6. Men and Women

1. Is the men / women situation in Britain controversial? Why? 

Generally speaking, British people invest about the same amount of their identity in their gender as people in other parts of northern Europe do. On the one hand, society no long­er overtly endorses differences in the public and social roles of men and women, and it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of sex. On the other hand, people still (often unconsciously) expect a fairly large number of dif­ferences in everyday behaviour and domestic roles.

In terms of everyday habits and mannerisms, British society probably expects a sharper difference between the sexes than most other European so­cieties do. For example, it is still far more acceptable for a man to look untidy and scruffy than it is for a woman; and it is still far more acceptable for a woman to display emotions and be demonstrably friendly than it is for a man to do so.

As far as roles are concerned, most people assume that a family's finan­cial situation is not just the responsibility of the man. On the other hand, they would still normally complement the woman, not the man, on a beautifully decorated or well-kept house. Everyday care of the children is still seen as mainly the woman's responsibility. Although almost as many women have jobs as men, nearly half of the jobs done by women are part-time. In fact, the majority of mothers with children under the age of twelve either have no job or work only during school hours. Men certainly take a more active domestic role than they did forty years ago. Some things, however, never seem to change. A comparison of child-rearing habits of the 1950s and the 1980s showed that the proportion of men who never changed a baby's nappy had remained the same (40%)!

In general, the sharpest distinction between the expected roles and behaviour of the two sexes is found in the lower and upper classes. The distinction is far less clear among the middle classes, but it is still there.

2.What are the contradictions in the men / women situation at the public level? 

At the public level there are contradictions. Britain was one of the first European countries to have a woman Prime Minister and a woman chairperson of debate in its Parliament.  

However, in the early nineties women formed only a tiny fraction of the total number of MPs (about 5%), only one out of five lawyers in Britain was a woman, less than one in ten accountants was a woman and there was only one female consultant brain surgeon in the whole country.

Nearly every institution in the country has opened its doors to women now. One of the last to do so was the Anglican Church, which, after much debate, decided in favour of the ordination of women priests in 1993.  However there are a few institutions which still don’t accept female members - for example, the Oxford and Cambridge Club in London, an association for graduates of these two universities.

3. What are the changes in the family unit?        

In comparison with most other places in the world, family identity is rather weak in Britain, especially in England. Of course, the family unit is still the basic living arrangement for most people. But in Britain this definitely means the nuclear family. There is little sense of extended family identity, except among some racial minorities. This is reflected in the size and composition of households.

It is unusual for adults of different generations within the family to live together. The average number of people living in each household in Britain is lower than in most other European countries. The proportion of elderly peo­ple living alone is similarly high.

Significant family events such as weddings, births and funerals are not automatically accompanied by large gatherings of people. It is still common to appoint people to certain roles on such occasions, such as ‘best man’ at a wedding, or godmother and godfather when a child is born. But for most people these appointments are of sentimental significance only. They do not imply lifelong responsibility. In fact, family gatherings of any kind beyond the household unit are rare. For most people, they are confined to the Christ­mas period.

Even the stereotyped nuclear family of father, mother and children is becoming less common. Britain has a higher rate of divorce than anywhere else in Europe except Denmark and the proportion of children born outside marriage has risen dramatically and is also one of the highest (about a third of all births). However, these trends do not necessarily mean that the nuclear family is disappearing. Divorces have increased, but the majority of marriages in Britain (about 55%) do not break down. In addition, it is notable that about three-quarters of all births outside marriage are officially regis­tered by both parents and more than half of the children concerned are born to parents who are living together at the time.

Questions:

1. What does ‘discrimination on the basis of sex’ mean?

2. What factors influence social domestic roles of men and women?

3. How big is an average British family?

4. Are family traditions kept? 

Additional Reading             Some British Records and Achievements 

The use of the jet engine for aircraft was pioneered by a team led by Sir Frank Whittle and the first British jet aircraft flew in 1941. In 1958 Britain began the first transatlantic jet service. The vertical take-off aircraft was born in Britain 30 years ago and since then powerful lift jet engines have been developed.

The first public demonstration of television was given by J.L. Baird in 1926. The British Broadcasting Corporation began the world's first high-definition TV service in 1936. The first colour TV service in Western Eu­rope was started by the BBC in 1967.

The first thermionic valve was patented in England in 1904 by Sir Ambrose Fleming, who could have foreseen few of the consequences of his invention - radio broadcasting, television, radar navigational aids and com­munications satellites. The British discovery in 1941 of the multicavity mag­netron marked the beginning of modem radar, which played a major part in the Second World War. Today over half the world's shipping carries British radar equipment.

Among a series of historic flights the first Atlantic crossing was made by the British airmen Alcock and Brown in 1919. The summit of the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest in Nepal, was first reached by mem­bers of Lord Hunt's British Expedition. They were Sir Edmund Hillary, a New Zealander, and the Nepalese guide Sherpa Tenzing in 1953.

The first practical steam driven ship was launched on the River Clyde in Scotland in 1802. The steam turbine, now universally used by big ships, was invented in Britain by Sir Charles Parsons. The first gas turbine applied to ship propulsion was developed by the Admiralty in 1947. The record for the first mile to be run in under four minutes was set up by Dr. Roger Bannis­ter in 1954. The first pedal cycle was built by a Scott, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, in 1839. Today Britain is the world's biggest exporter of cycles.