No longer were petitioners required to prove ?matrimonial offence? such as adultery.



Another change in divorce laws in 1984 made it possible for couples to appeal for divorce after just one year of marriage. In 2004, it was women who petitioned for divorce 93% of the time.

What had brought about this dramatic change? It was the empowerment of women that began when the Feminist Movement, which had been around for centuries, began to take shape in the 1970s.

By 1972, the Women's National Coordinating Committee in Britain had worked out four elementary criteria for the new struggle for equality with men:

• Equal education and job opportunities



• Free 24-hour nurseries



• Free contraception and abortion on demand



• Equal pay

In its early days, Women's Liberation was a subject of argument and evolving ideology. Today you can ask a woman if she is a feminist, but in those days, you had to ask her what kind of feminist she was: Radical, Liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Lesbian, Revolutionary, or Anarchist?

Revolutionary Ideas

Women were forging deep friendships with each other and experimenting with new ways of living that were not patriarchal. Women made their own rules, many of which were radical and separatist. Some feminists referred to married women or those who lived with men as 'hostages'. Others, who did not support separatism, struggled with the issues which arose from 'living with the enemy'.

In the 1970s the Feminist Movement achieved a lot.

In 1970, the Equal Pay Act was introduced, specifying that women and men would be given equal wages for equal work.

In 1975, with the Sex Discrimination Act, discrimination in the workplace based on gender or marital status was outlawed.

In 1976, the Domestic Violence Act was a result of feminists establishing women's shelters.

The manner in which men and women viewed each other changed irreversibly.

Basics Remain but the Restrictions are Gone

Today the idealism that marked the Women's Liberation in the 1970s is gone, but so have the restrictions that had urged women to burn the bra, ignore body hair and shun marriage. Today women can do all these things and still call themselves feminists.

These days, feminists continue to take action, holding demonstrations and campaigning for their rights, but this activism is now more focused on the environmentalist and anti-capitalist movements. Once in a while you hear of a bunch of feminists removing porn magazines from shelves or protesting at a Miss World show against the sexual exploitation of women.

Hard-won Gains

However, there have been many recent advancements.

• Girls at school expect to do as well as the boys.



• Politicians are placing good, reliable childcare high on their agenda so that women can work without anxiety.



• Although the issues of contraception and abortion have been under attack for centuries, women can control their own fertility.



• Following a 15-year campaign -- Women Against Rape, the House of Lords ruled in 1991 that rape within marriage ought to be made illegal.

The Aftermath

Since the past 20 years, feminism seems to have taken a beating. Much of it comes from disgruntled and bitter males who denounce the movement for having ?emasculated? them, and for having turned women into career-minded spinsters who would rather go home not to men but to cats. Some of this backlash comes from women themselves who are encouraging women to stop being aggressive and surrender to their husbands.

Advocates of the backlash are saying that the reports of domestic violence are exaggerated, and that it is the men now who are oppressed. Indeed, there is a trend today of divorces that are leaving women richer than the men.

However, the statistics prove that women still have a long way to go.

• Women in Britain today who are working full time are paid 18% less than men.



• Every 10 seconds, a woman in Britain is raped, beaten or murdered in her own home. Approximately half the 100 women killed every year in the UK, are murdered by their partners or ex-partners.

It is no wonder that most of the petitioners for divorce in the UK come from women. Women are far more financially and emotionally independent today. They no longer choose to remain in an unsatisfactory marriage. They can afford not to.