Now I am the first to admit that as a society we still have a long way to go in addressing issues of equal opportunities.
But that said from the standpoint of when I first began a “serious job” in 1973 huge strides have been made.
I can still remember Kay’s mother having to keep quiet after she had got married in the early 1950s because the firm she worked for in the North East had a policy of not employing married women.
And twenty years after that I was told by work colleagues that they felt uncomfortable working for a woman, which was all the remarkable as one of the three was my age and had grown up in the 1960s when gender barriers appeared to be falling.
Of course those gender barriers were for many still tall and insurmountable.
In 1968 woman in Fords at Dagenham had gone on strike over a regrading of their work which highlighted the common practice of paying women less than men often for the same work.
The subsequent Equal Pay Act of 1970 had been met by derision from some, was criticised by others and was claimed would drive firms to the wall. A set of responses which were mirrored when the Minimum Wage Act was passed in 1998
All of which is really a link to tomorrow's story of women playing in dart’s teams. In the mid 1970s the Trevor Arms fielded a mixed dart’s team which was met with consternation and opposition from some pubs.*
In one case one pub grudgingly accepted the team but the landlord did so only on condition that the women did not drink.
I appealed for similar memories of this mindless bout of discrimination and Debbie Cameron provided her memories.
"It was 1979 and I was the first woman in a darts team in a league.'
The League had to look up the rules but because it was always ASSUMED women wouldn't (?couldnt) play darts there was no exclusion so I played.
I was good and I remember finishing on 170 once and the guy threw his darts down and muttered that he was never playing again as he had been beaten by a woman.
His mate even said 'random darts’.
If it had been a bloke finishing they'd have slapped him on the shoulder an bought him a pint!
However the guys in my team were furious.
By the time I left we had 4 women in the team! Result!"
So keep the memories coming, lest we forget.
Picture; badge circa 1978, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
*The goat, the tent on the meadows and the mixed darts team,
I can still remember Kay’s mother having to keep quiet after she had got married in the early 1950s because the firm she worked for in the North East had a policy of not employing married women.
And twenty years after that I was told by work colleagues that they felt uncomfortable working for a woman, which was all the remarkable as one of the three was my age and had grown up in the 1960s when gender barriers appeared to be falling.
Of course those gender barriers were for many still tall and insurmountable.
In 1968 woman in Fords at Dagenham had gone on strike over a regrading of their work which highlighted the common practice of paying women less than men often for the same work.
The subsequent Equal Pay Act of 1970 had been met by derision from some, was criticised by others and was claimed would drive firms to the wall. A set of responses which were mirrored when the Minimum Wage Act was passed in 1998
All of which is really a link to tomorrow's story of women playing in dart’s teams. In the mid 1970s the Trevor Arms fielded a mixed dart’s team which was met with consternation and opposition from some pubs.*
In one case one pub grudgingly accepted the team but the landlord did so only on condition that the women did not drink.
I appealed for similar memories of this mindless bout of discrimination and Debbie Cameron provided her memories.
"It was 1979 and I was the first woman in a darts team in a league.'
The League had to look up the rules but because it was always ASSUMED women wouldn't (?couldnt) play darts there was no exclusion so I played.
I was good and I remember finishing on 170 once and the guy threw his darts down and muttered that he was never playing again as he had been beaten by a woman.
His mate even said 'random darts’.
If it had been a bloke finishing they'd have slapped him on the shoulder an bought him a pint!
However the guys in my team were furious.
By the time I left we had 4 women in the team! Result!"
So keep the memories coming, lest we forget.
Picture; badge circa 1978, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
*The goat, the tent on the meadows and the mixed darts team,
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