ABSTRACT
On the one hand, these reforms were the result of progressive, humanitarian social movements such as feminism, which, in less than 200 years, has secured rights of guardianship, property ownership, political representation and reproductive control for British women. On the other hand, protective legislation – such as the 1848 Factory Act limiting women and children to a ten-hour working day – countered the exploitation of women workers in the newly developing manufacturing industries primarily in order to ensure their allegiance to motherhood and wifely duties. In this sense, nineteenth-century parliamentary reforms went hand in hand with a gradual acceptance of the state’s right to directly intervene in and regulate the domestic sphere. During the 1960s and 1970s ‘permissive’ legislation such as the legalisation of abortion, the introduction of the no-fault divorce and the decriminalisation of homosexuality have reversed this trend, reflecting the higher priority awarded to personal choice and freedom as opposed to public morality and duty. At times, the pendulum appears to be swinging back again, with legislation such as the 1991 Child Support Act, which enforces parental responsibilities by law, but generally legislation has been introduced to protect the rights of those most likely to be discriminated against.
