SEX AND GENDER
Manuscript Sources from the Public Record Office

Part 3: Equal Opportunities and Pay (ADM, AIR, BL, BN, CAB, LO, ED, FO, HO, LAB, LLO, MAF, MEPO, MH, MUN, PIN, REM AND T 1 files)

The highly charged subject of equal pay and equal opportunities is examined in detail in this fascinating collection. These archival materials cover a wide range of developments over a significant period of time, from the political debates of the early 20th century and developments following the First World War to the Governmental Reports of the 1960s and the Equal Pay Bill of 1970.

These manuscript papers track the progress of Trade Union activity, the work of campaign pressure groups and committees, the Royal Commission on Equal Pay, political debates, government legislation and amendments, the Treaty of Rome and EC directives. This project will open up a wide array of documentary evidence allowing scholars and researchers scope for many new avenues of exploration and analysis.

Part 3 includes:

• Papers regarding the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act.
• The National Whitley Council Reorganisation Report.
• Minutes and memoranda of the Women’s Consultative Committee,
  1941-1944.
• Cabinet Papers on the Royal Commission on Equal Pay, 1944-1950.
• Cabinet Papers on the Women’s Emancipation Bill.
• Correspondence on the position of women in industry and the professions after the end of the Second World War.
• Papers and reports concerning equal pay for equal work in the
  teaching profession.
• Papers of the UN Commission on the Status of Women concerning equal pay.
• EEC proposals for legislation on equal pay, 1962-1963.
• Cabinet papers by Barbara Castle on Equal Pay in 1969.
• Papers on the Equal Pay Bill of 1970.
• Baroness Sear’s study of the effects of the Equal Pay Act, 1970, and its impact on the employment of women.