1. There hasn't been many women in power or in parliament since the time of Margaret Thatcher, however "Lastly, the representation of women in the European Parliament has gradually grown during the last four decades. The Common Assembly ( 1952-58) included one woman out of 78 representatives, or 1.3 percent of the total. This increased marginally to 3 percent of members in the Parliament of the Six ( 1958-1972), then 5.5 percent in 1978 (European Commission 1979)." Thatcher's goal was to give everyone man or women a political voice, and women's representation has increased in parliament. Also when it came to voting, "The major breakthrough came in the first direct elections in 1979, resulting in 69 women out of 410 representatives, or 16.8 percent. The proportion increased, with some fluctuations, during the next decade until by 1994 one-quarter of all MEPs are women. This compares with women constituting about a fifth (16 percent) of members in equivalent national legislatures." Women may not have been in power but they had a say who would be in power. However omen elected in European elections have been the lowest in the UK, fluctuating around 14-18% from 1979 to 1994 which is the lowest in Europe.
2. Thatcher winning and becoming Britain's first female prime minister affected the role of women for several reasons. One by having a women in power, she is going to make laws that are beneficial to helping womanhood, this may be why laws of easier divorce and contraceptives where put in place towards the end of the 60s, it didn't stop women from having a voice politically. Also Thatcher was very conservative meaning older traditions such as only men having political power were put to the test by having a women being prime minster. Also with her winning, came human rights that helped to not alienate women as much as they were in previous generations. Her becoming prime minister and defending human rights would lead to a diverge still in UK today about the idea of political free choice and how its a human right. Which is something women did not have the right to do do prior her winning the role of prime minister. Thatcher is even quoted saying, "It would seem a worthy objective for men and women to wish to raise the standard of living for their families and to give them greater opportunities than they themselves had. I wish more people would do it. We would then have fewer saying, "the state must do it."
3. Religion evolved into something less important in the country, with the abortion laws of 1967, and also with contraceptives available from the Swinging Sixties. Plus with the Family Planning Act of 1967, this lead to women becoming educated about not having to have children if they wished not to and also giving them more rights. Religious beliefs would definitely be against contraceptives which would cause the idea of religion in the UK to go down since 1945 and cause Uk to become more liberal about contraceptives and religion towards the 21st century. Also, "There was, of course, a time when the Christian religion was the only permitted form of worship in our land. Today we live in what is called a "plural society," one in which many different traditions of belief exist alongside each other and also alongside other more recent fashions-those of total disbelief or even nihilism. No doubt we have absorbed much from other systems of belief and contributed much to them. The change, however, has also brought its dilemmas, not least for the legislator." Religion slowly evolved in something that was less important especially for women in from 1945- to 2000, which is seen in the Swinging Sixties with the idea of homosexuality and adultery, becoming more open and accepted.
WORKS CITED:
Katz, Richard S. and Bernhard Wessels, eds. 1999. The European Parliament, the National Parliaments, and European Integration. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Book on-line. Available from Questia, http://www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=41395869. Internet. Accessed 2 March 2011.
Roberts, Clayton Roberts David. “A History of England: 1688 to the present”. Vol. 2. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1980.
Thompson, Juliet S. and Wayne C. Thompson, eds. 1994. Margaret Thatcher: Prime Minister Indomitable. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Book on-line. Available from Questia, http://www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=85710688. Internet. Accessed 2 March 2011.
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