‘We fought for financial autonomy’
Journalist Liz Hodgkinson marched for equal pay in the 1960s and she’s glad her granddaughters will benefit from that battle.
At the time of my wedding in 1965, a married woman could opt to pay reduced National Insurance contributions. Married men did not have that option because they were regarded as the breadwinner. At the time, we needed all the money we could get and, although contributions were equalled in 1977, I stupidly continued to pay the lower rate, as was permitted. Pension days seemed a long way off and I still felt I would rather have the money than give it to the taxman. The sad result is that, all these years later, I receive the grand sum of £65 a week in state pension, whereas my now ex-husband gets £179.60, as he paid full contributions for 35 years. When we were trying to get a mortgage to buy a house in 1967, my income could not be taken into account, even though I was earning more than my husband – I might go off and have a baby any minute! Nor, in those days, could I have secured a mortgage on my own.
There was also no such thing as paid maternity leave when I had my first son in 1968, so I had to go back to work and employ a childminder. I was going against the tide by being a working mother.
I did get £1.50 a week per child in Child
Benefit, which I saved up for shoes and school uniforms for our sons. This lasted until they were 18, and replaced the old Family
Allowance, which was introduced in 1946. Today this benefit continues at £21.15 a week for the oldest child and £14 for each younger child.
Along with thousands of women, I marched for equal pay, and was delighted when the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1970. Previously, women earned less than men, even for an identical job.
Also, every year, my income had to be declared on my husband’s tax return. He knew how much I earned, but I didn’t know how much he earned. I campaigned against it, especially as I was the main breadwinner, but tax equality did not come in until 1990, when I was single anyway.
In the 1960s and 1970s, we realised we were being dealt a rough hand and it was only through many battles that we achieved financial equality.
I hope my teenage granddaughters will be grateful for our fights to gain the financial autonomy that they take for granted.
My income wasn’t taken into account for a mortgage