The twentieth-century world, Year 11: votes for women, the General Strike and minority rights (Power and the people option)

1903

HintJust after Queen Victoria's reign ended.

The whyIts members were nicknamed suffragettes, a label meant as an insult that they adopted. They broke with the peaceful, constitutional approach of the NUWSS, whose members were called suffragists, and turned to direct action.

Release them temporarily when they were weak, then re-arrest them to finish their sentences.

HintIt avoided having prisoners die in custody.

The whyOfficially the Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health) Act, it was passed in response to hunger strikes and the public outcry over forcible feeding.

Some women over 30 (those who met property conditions).

HintEquality of age with men came only in 1928.

The whyThe same Act gave the vote to all men over 21. Historians point to women's war work as one reason Parliament agreed, though women still did not vote on equal terms with men.

21

HintA coming-of-age birthday.

The whyThe Conservative government's Act was passed in July 1928, weeks after Emmeline Pankhurst died. It ended the gap between the voting rights of men and women.

The Ford sewing machinists' strike.

HintBarbara Castle, the employment minister, was drawn into the dispute.

The whyAbout 187 women walked out on 7 June 1968 over how their work was graded. Their action put pressure on the government. The Equal Pay Act 1970 banned less favourable treatment of women in pay and conditions.

Coal miners, who had been locked out over pay cuts and longer hours.

HintTheir industry struggled after the First World War.

The whyThe TUC called the strike to back the Miners' Federation after the mine owners proposed lower pay and a longer working day. A Royal Commission under Sir Herbert Samuel had reported in March 1926.

12

HintIt was less than two weeks after the strike began.

The whyThe strike had lasted nine days. The TUC ended it even though the miners' dispute was unsettled, and the miners were left to fight on alone.

They stayed out for months, and most went back to work around the end of November 1926 on worse terms.

HintHardship, not a deal, drove them in the end.

The whyMany remained unemployed, and those who returned had to accept lower wages and longer hours.

Sympathy strikes (including general strikes) and mass picketing.

HintIt targeted the tactic the TUC had used in 1926.

The whyIt was passed as a response to the General Strike. Banning sympathy strikes ruled out a repeat of the TUC's 1926 action.

A secret ballot of their members.

HintThe government wanted the rank and file to have a say.

The whyIt was one of three laws of the early 1980s (the Employment Acts of 1980 and 1982 and the Trade Union Act 1984) that reformed trade union law. The 1984 Act also required secret ballots to elect union leaders. Ministers argued that the laws gave ordinary members more say.

Operation Swamp 81

HintIt flooded the area with extra officers.

The whyPolice used the 'sus' law to stop and search many people, and young Black people were stopped in disproportionate numbers. The disorder took place from 10 to 12 April 1981.

Stop, search and arrest people just because they were suspected of intending a crime, with little proof needed.

HintIts name is a three-letter abbreviation of a phrase.

The whyThe law came from the 1824 Vagrancy Act and was used heavily against young Black people by the 1970s. Evidence showed that young Black men were stopped far more often than white people, which bred deep resentment towards the police.

Social and economic disadvantage, including racial disadvantage.

HintThink about jobs, housing and life chances.

The whyScarman called for a more direct attack on racial disadvantage, coordinated by central government, especially in education and employment.

No. It said it did not, though it accepted that racial disadvantage and discrimination remained.

HintThe phrase is more closely linked with a report of 1999.

The whyCritics said Scarman had downplayed police misconduct. In 1999 the Macpherson Report, which followed the murder of Stephen Lawrence, concluded that the Metropolitan Police was institutionally racist.

Commission for Racial Equality

HintIt replaced the Race Relations Board.

The whyThe first Race Relations Act (1965) banned discrimination in public places. The 1968 Act extended this to employment and housing, and the 1976 Act also covered indirect discrimination.