"Diversity, Rights and Equality in Britain, 1914-2010" is one of the eight Paper 2 Section B breadth studies in change. You study only one of them, so work through this option only if it is one of your chosen options.
A breadth study is about change over time, so we start by asking what Britain was like in 1914, before the First World War. Then the later lessons can show what changed and what stayed the same.
Diversity, rights and equality
Britain in 1914 was a rich, powerful country at the centre of a huge empire. It was also very unequal. Your rights, your chances and the way people treated you depended heavily on who you were.
Key terms:
- Diversity: the different groups of people who make up a society, such as people of different races, genders or classes.
- Rights: the things that the law says a person may do or must be given, such as the right to vote.
- Equality: people of every group having the same rights and chances.
- Class: a group in society based mainly on wealth, job and background.
The option follows five themes through the century: attitudes and opportunities for race and gender; attitudes and opportunities for disability and class; the effects of immigration and diversity; the role of protest and pressure groups; and the role of government. Keep them in mind as you read.
Attitudes to race, gender and disability
🌎 Race
Many British people believed that white Europeans were superior to the peoples of the empire. Small communities of Black, Asian and Chinese people lived in port towns such as Cardiff, Liverpool and London. Jewish families had come from the Russian Empire to escape persecution. They often met suspicion and prejudice, and in 1911 mobs attacked Chinese-run laundries in Cardiff. There was no law against racial discrimination. A few non-white people reached high positions, such as Dadabhai Naoroji, an Indian who was elected an MP in 1892.
👩 Gender
Most people believed that a woman's place was in the home, looking after the family, while men worked and ran public life. No woman could vote in a general election or become an MP. Girls had fewer chances at school and women were kept out of most professions, such as law, and were paid less than men. Women did have some rights: since 1882 a married woman could own her own property, and some women could vote in local elections.
🧠 Disability
Disabled people were often seen as a burden or to be pitied. Many relied on charities or families, and the poorest ended up in the workhouse. People with mental disabilities were treated worst. The Mental Deficiency Act (1913) let local authorities send people judged "mentally defective" to institutions, sometimes for life. The law used words such as "idiot" and "feeble-minded", which we now see as offensive.
Attitudes to class
Britain had a clear class system. At the top, landowners and wealthy families had great power, and the House of Lords, whose members were mostly landowners, could still delay laws passed by the elected House of Commons. A middle class of businessmen, shopkeepers and professionals lived comfortably. The working class, the largest group, did manual work in factories, mines, docks and farms.
Many working-class families were poor. A survey of York in 1901 by Seebohm Rowntree found that about 28 per cent of people lived in poverty. Wages were low, jobs were insecure, and there was little help if you were ill or out of work. Many people at the time believed that poverty was the fault of the poor themselves, though a growing number disagreed.
Class also affected the vote. In 1914 only men over 21 who owned or rented property of a set value could vote, which left roughly four in every ten men without a vote. No woman could vote in a general election. In the House of Commons, MPs were not paid until 1911, so few working men could afford to be one.
Pressures for change
🗳️ Votes for women
The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), led by Millicent Fawcett, was set up in 1897. Its members, the suffragists, used peaceful methods such as petitions and meetings. Frustrated at the lack of progress, Emmeline Pankhurst formed the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903. Its members, the suffragettes, used the motto "Deeds not words". They smashed windows, set fire to empty buildings and went on hunger strike in prison. In 1913 Emily Wilding Davison died after being hit by the king's horse at the Derby. The government's Cat and Mouse Act of 1913 let it release weakened hunger strikers and then arrest them again. By 1914 women still had no vote.
🏭 Trade unions and Labour
A trade union is an organisation of workers that bargains with employers over pay and conditions. Union membership grew from about 2 million in 1900 to over 4 million by 1914. In 1900 unions and socialist groups founded a body that became the Labour Party in 1906, to win seats in Parliament for working people. The Taff Vale case of 1901 made a union pay an employer for losses caused by a strike, which showed unions that they needed MPs. In 1906 Labour won 29 seats and the law was changed. In 1910-14 there were many strikes by dockers, railwaymen and miners.
The government also began to act on poverty. The Liberal governments after 1906 brought in old age pensions (1908) and National Insurance for some workers (1911). But the reforms did not give any group the vote, and nothing protected people from racial prejudice.
So in 1914: there was pressure for change on gender and class, but only weak pressure on race and disability. Britain was not equal and many people did not expect it to be. The First World War would change attitudes and opportunities, as later lessons show.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up suffragists and suffragettes. Suffragists were peaceful (NUWSS); suffragettes were more militant (WSPU).
- Saying all women had no rights at all. Married women could own property and some could vote in local elections, but none in general elections.
- Saying that every man could vote in 1914. Many working men could not.
- Writing only about the suffragettes. Say that class, race and disability mattered too.
Exam-style question
Explain TWO causes of the growth of the Labour Party in the years before 1914. [8 marks]
Remember: this is a "two causes" question. Each cause needs precise facts and an explanation of how it led to the growth. One cause alone can score no more than half marks.
Model answer
One cause was the Taff Vale case of 1901. A court ruled that a trade union had to pay an employer for the losses caused by a strike. This put the unions' money at risk, so strikes were dangerous. Union leaders concluded that the law would only change if working people had their own MPs, so more unions joined the Labour Representation Committee, which became the Labour Party in 1906. In the 1906 election Labour won 29 seats, and this success led the new Liberal government to change the law.
A second cause was the poverty and lack of power of the working class. In 1901 Seebohm Rowntree found that about 28 per cent of people in York lived in poverty, and many working men and all women had little say in how the country was run. MPs were unpaid until 1911, so few working men could afford to stand. The existing parties were led by landowners and businessmen, so many workers felt that only a party built by working people would speak for them, and more of them backed Labour.
This reaches the top level because it explains two causes, each with precise detail and a clear link to the growth of the party.
Exam tip
For each cause, give a fact (a date, name or figure) and then use the word "so" or "because" to show how it led to the outcome. Aim for two short paragraphs of 70-100 words.