The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.

From riot against cars to the right to walk at night: why women protested in the last century

'15.12.2020'

Source: LADY HERE WOO

University of Lincoln professor Christie Kauman recalls the history of women's protest in the UK, from the car riot at the beginning of the last century and the struggle for the right to safely take to the streets at night, to today's protests against harassment of women parliamentarians on social networks. "LADY.TUT.BY" publishes an excerpt from Professor Kauman's speech on women's movements since the 30s.

Photo: Shutterstock

Barricades against cars

The advent of the automobile changed British cities in the XNUMXth century to a great extent. Some historians cite cars as a factor that positively influenced the lives of women and gave them an unprecedented level of autonomy and independence. This may have been true for wealthier people who could afford cars, but most women had a very different attitude toward developing cars.

In working-class areas, the increase in the number of cars on the road threatens the traditional use of streets as predominantly female spaces: you can see this in photographs from the 1940s and 1970s. The streets in working-class districts have long been considered a place for women to socialize. Another function often performed by streets is a safe space for children.

Street roads in working-class areas were originally intended for service vehicles (garbage trucks or delivery vans) rather than for residents.

In between (and actually most of the day) the streets became spaces where children played while their mothers took turns looking out for them and gossiping with neighbors.

The lethal potential of the machines became apparent before World War II, when the number of accidents in Britain rose sharply. Children were not only more active and more likely to suffer from serious injuries, but they were also more likely to find themselves on the street, so they were disproportionately affected.

From 1927 to 1937, 14 children died under the wheels of cars. At first, the authorities tried to solve this problem by separating children from cars using railings and pedestrian crossings. But shortly before the war, the Chief Constable of Salford, a small town near Manchester, tried a new approach based on the experience of New York. A number of streets in Salford were temporarily closed to cars during certain hours to give children free access. The experiment cut the number of accidents in half and led to the adoption of new laws on the streets for games.

The law came into force in 1938, shortly before the war, and gave local authorities the right to designate streets for games. However, in many cities, municipal authorities were slow to act as they often faced opposition from local residents who did not have children, misunderstood the purpose of the change, and feared that children would flood the streets. Another, more influential new motorist lobby, often associated with wealthier people or the city's business community, pushed for freedom of movement. On the other hand, many municipalities faced outrage from mothers who intended to force local authorities into action.

On the subject: 'Not made for television': how Oprah Winfrey went through hell and became America's main woman

One typical and well-documented example is the story of how a group of working-class women in Liverpool protested that motorists used their street as a shortcut to the city center. This protest, which caught the attention of the whole country, has many distinguishing features and has become an example for other similar actions that have begun throughout the UK.

All protesters mentioned that they were mothers when they explained their actions. One of them, Mrs. Quinn, who called herself a grandmother, said that hundreds of children living in their area do not have a playground. Mrs Bowie, who said she was the mother of eleven children, agreed with her. And another mother, Mrs Young, explained why women's protests are successful. She told reporters that since the case took place on Saturday, their husbands were at home, but they did not go outside. The barricades were the work of women. The fact is that the police could beat the men, but they would not raise their hand against the mothers.

For several days, the women used their own bodies and wheelchairs to set up barricades at the entrance to their street, ignoring police attempts to drive them away. In addition to the sequence of the offense (obstructing traffic, as in the case of suffragists), the protesters also borrowed the idea of ​​writing in chalk on the pavement to convey their demands.

Local MP Bessie Braddock, who was the daughter of a suffragist and union organizer, went outside to mingle with the protesters. When Bessie tried to convince them to remove the barricade, they quickly reminded her that "if women like us hadn't fought for the right to vote many years ago, you and other women would not have made it to parliament."

Finally, the municipality agreed to the women’s demands and closed the street to one-way traffic, making it useless as a shortcut.

Similar protests took place throughout Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. They all appeared to be spontaneous, but they all had similarities, including the use of wheelchairs and female bodies to physically block the streets. Again, we are aware of these protests because the actions were unconventional enough to attract press attention outside the specific area.

Final examples of this ongoing defiance date back to the 1970s and 1980s and grew out of so-called second wave feminism, better known as the women's liberation movement.

The fight for personal rights

Whereas early XNUMXth century feminism focused on achieving social and political rights for women, the women's liberation movement focused on much more personal rights. So they campaigned on issues such as abortion, contraception, childbearing and street safety, with many of their demands centered around one slogan: "Personal is political."

The women's rights movement originated in America. And in Britain it grew out of a group called the History workshop, a radical movement to preserve the history of working-class campaigns to improve modern protests.

One of the most famous early protests was against the Miss World competition in November 1970. The competition was held at the Albert Hall, a building where suffragettes often staged demonstrations during the Edwardian era. In the 1970 campaign, women used similar methods: they bought tickets to enter the building disguised as guests of the event, in evening dress, and then jumped up in the middle of the evening and staged a protest. The feature film Miss Bad Behavior was recently released, based on an almost identical protest.

The 1970s ended with women returning to suffragist tactics based on large-scale, all-female demonstrations and presentations, creating the Take Back the Night movement. Take Back the Night was a massive group with a very blurry structure that began with a 1979 march in Leeds, northern England, in conjunction with the March 8 International Women's Day march.

The marches, which by the 1980s were taking place across Britain, were aimed at drawing attention to the harassment, discomfort and danger women face when going out at night alone or even in groups. One of the organizers explained to the Guardian: "Our goal is to change the attitude of men, so that they perceive us not just as sexual objects, but as individuals with their rights."

The attitude of men towards marches often shows that the level of deep-rooted prejudices towards women's campaigns was high. Here's an example from Liverpool: The organizers of the first Take Back the Night march approached the local police for permission to hold a demonstration. At first, they were denied: according to a police spokesman, they could not give permission to march, since it is not safe for women to be on the street alone at night.

As in the case of their suffragette predecessors, the essence of the Take Back the Night campaign was that women occupied the space that is generally considered masculine: in this case, it was the city at night, the streets at night.

On the subject: How men devalue women's achievements and talents: opinion

Casual sexism these days

2018 marks a hundred years since parliament passed legislation giving some women the right to vote. Many celebrations and commemorations took place in Britain that year, but it also became a logical point in order to appreciate the path traveled.

And it is worth noting: the events of today are very reminiscent of what happened a hundred years ago. The modern campaign against everyday sexism is a very good example.

Laura Bates started it in 2012. With the help of modern media platforms and Twitter, she documented stories of small, daily forms of harassment, rudeness, discrimination, and sometimes sexual violence that have become a part of the lives of many women.

Sadly, many of them are identical to the harassment reported by the organizers of the first Take Back the Night march, and some are reminiscent of the complaint of suffragist Mary Richardson, who recalled how often men stopped her to make a dirty remark when she dared to sell a suffragist newspaper on the streets in 1910.

Women MPs in Britain, who are still a minority in this body of government, face far more harassment on social media than their male counterparts.

It is clear to many that public threats of rape or criticism of dress or appearance is a normal form of political discussion. Indeed, some women MPs have given up on social media because the amount of abuse they face is too high.

Although there is still a lot of work to be done in Britain before full equality is achieved, women can and should be inspired by the historical examples of rebellion and defiance that have taken us a long way since the turn of the century.

Follow success stories, tips, and more by subscribing to Woman.ForumDaily on Facebook, and don't miss the main thing in our mailing list

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By: XYZScripts.com