UK Women's Rights Quiz Answers

1. In 1868, "The London Nine" were the first women to attend a UK University. When did Cambridge Uni allow women to become full members and take degrees?

   1948
   Cambridge was the last uni to allow women in. NB Oxford Uni was the second last uni allowing women in, in 1920.

2. "The Edinburgh Seven" were the first women admitted to study medicine in Britain when they enrolled in 1869. When did they receive their degrees?

   2019
   Edinburgh University refuse the women their degrees. In 1873, The "Edinburgh Seven" unsuccessfully sued Edinburgh University in the Court of Session - the Court of Session ruled in favour of the University's right to refuse the women degrees and also concluded the women should not even have been allowed to study at all. In 2019, on the 150th anniversary of their matriculation, the University of Edinburgh awarded posthumously The "Edinburgh Seven", honorary degrees (MBChB).

3. Who was the first woman to practise medicine in Britain?

   Dr J Barry
   Dr J (James) Barry successfully passed the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, having previously graduated in 1812 as Medicinae Doctor (MD) at University of Edinburgh Medical School. Not until Dr J Barry's death in 1865, was it discovered Dr James Barry was a... woman, born Margaret Ann Bulkley! Therefore, she was the first qualified and practicing female surgeon in the UK.

4. Was there a proposal to amend The 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act to make lesbianism an act of "gross indecency", with the same punishments as gay men?

   True
   Apparently, an amendment was proposed (by the Association for Moral and Social Hygiene (AMSH)?) to the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act to make lesbianism an act of "gross indecency", with the same punishments as gay men. The proposal was defeated, the reason being given that: "it was believed that few women could even comprehend that such acts existed and accepting the proposal would only draw attention to such acts and therefore, open them up to a new "audience".

5. When did women finally achieve the same voting rights as men?

   1928
   In 1918 the Representation of the People Act was passed which allowed women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification to vote. Although 8.5 million women met this criteria, it was only about two-thirds of the total population of women in the UK.
   
   It was not until the Equal Franchise Act of 1928 that women over 21 were able to vote and women finally achieved the same voting rights as men. This act increased the number of women eligible to vote to 15 million.

6. When did married women get the right keep her own earnings?

   1870
   The Married Women's Property Act 1870 offered married women the right to be the legal owners of: the money they earned (through their own work), investments independent of their husbands and inherit small sums, hold property either rented or inherited.

7. When were women allowed credit cards in UK?

   1974
   In 1966, Barclaycard in the United Kingdom launched the first credit card outside the United States. Banks could refuse women a credit card until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 was signed into law. Prior to that, a bank could refuse to issue a credit card to an unmarried woman, and if a woman was married, her husband was required to cosign

8. Amongs other offences, which Bill bans topless calendars at work?

   The Dignity at Work Bill 2001
   The Dignity at Work Bill was introduced in the House of Lords. It provides that all employees "shall have a right to dignity at work". It prohibits harassment, bullying and any conduct which causes the employee "to be alarmed or distressed".

9. In 1921 The FA banned women from playing on Football League grounds. When was the ban lifted?

   1971
   The FA Council lifted it's ban on women playing on the grounds of affiliated clubs. In the first women's FA Cup Final, 1971, Southampton's women's team beat Stewarton and Thistle's women's team 4-1.

10. When was the ban on women being served at a bar, lifted?

    1983
    In the case Gill and Coote v El Vino Ltd, Tess Gill and Anna Coote successfully challenged El Vino's ban on women being served at the bar.
    
    Tess Gill (a lawyer) and Anna Coote (a journalist) wanted to stand and drink at the bar at El Vino, a traditional Fleet Street bar in London and a haunt of journalists and lawyers. Incredulously (it was 1983) the barman refused to serve them and said that, if they sat at a table, the drinks would be brought to them because only men were permitted to stand and drink at the bar.
    
    Gill and Coote brought a claim against the management of El Vino, arguing that their treatment was unlawful under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. El Vino argued that the ban on women drinking at the bar ensured female patrons were not jostled at the bar and claimed that it was upholding "old fashioned ideas of chivalry". The trial judge found in favour of El Vino, however, Gill and Coote won their case against El Vino in the Court of Appeal as the ban was held to be an illegal violation of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. One of the judges, Lord Justice Griffiths, said that El Vino's popularity amongst journalists made it one of the famous "gossip shops of Fleet Street," and confining women reporters to tables put them at a disadvantage in "picking up gossip of the day."

11. Henley Royal Regatta allowed women to wear trousers everywhere at the Regatta, in... 1976?

    False
    Henley Royal Regatta - 2021: Women can now wear trousers at the Henley Royal Regatta everywhere after it changed its "draconian" dress code. The change comes after a petition launched by Oxford student and member of the University Women’s Boat Club, Georgina Grant, garnered 1,683 signatures. "Excluding, discriminatory and sexist dress codes are rife and we need to change this," she argued.

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