Differential uptake of Pill by class

01/08/13

Dr Marks in her book- "Sexual Chemistry: the history of the contraceptive book" (2001) cites the work of K. Fisher- "An oral history of birth control practise c. 1925-50." Due to the fact that I am not an academic in a university I do not have access to some literature. My report is therefore limited by the availability of some resources which affects the amount of data I can collect. 

Using the information presented by Marks and the abstract of the Fisher paper I found that:

Many British working class women preferred male contraceptive methods like the condom and coitus interrupts  precisely because it freed them from responsibility for contraception, maintaining a sense of passivity. 

This is reflected in the delayed adoption of the Pill among British working class women....

I found the source useful as it provided information on a specific class' attitude towards oral contraception which isn't found in many sources. It would have been better, however, if I could have had access to the whole report instead of relying on what was cited in Mark's book. 

Use of the Pill by social class

03/08/13
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21176425?selectedversion=NBD306500

 The link above is to Ann Cartwright's article entitled "Family Size, contraceptive practice and fertility intentions in England and Wales 1967-75" in Family Planning Perspectives. 1979.

The source was incredibly useful as stressed the importance of social class in the uptake of the Pill. Published in 1979 it offers data from 1967-75 which is important as it shows both difference in social class use of the pill as well as the general increase in working class women which is important to note. From the data she collected I made a table showing the use of the Pill by social class. 


Use of the Pill by social class
Social class
% Of group using the Pill
1967-8
1973
1975
All
20
43
42
Professional
32
31
32
Intermediate
18
40
36
Skilled
Nonmanual
24
46
44
Manual
18
45
47
Semiskilled
17
41
42
Unskilled
13
43
41
Source: adapted from Cartwright. 130. 1979.

As the table above shows social class impacted the rate of adoption of oral contraceptives with women in the top socio-economic group being early adaptors,  quickly persuaded of its advantages in terms of empowering choices about education, career, family size and family wealth.  University-educated women were much more likely to be aware of and have access to the Pill as were those living in middle-class and urban areas. From the early 1970s, however, the socioeconomic profile of Pill-users altered, with less educated and poorer groups accounting for an increasing proportion of Pill-users.

The fact that the Pill was an oral contraceptive meant that women would not have to touch their vaginas, which other forms of female contraception required. This was a common inhibition among british working class women  Lara Marks expands on the point made by Cartwright by including an oral history of a British family planning Doctor, Denise Pullen. Pullen stated that a common feeling  among British working class women was delight at the invention of the Pill as "they could pop their pill in their mouth, and forget they had anything below their waste." 

05/08/13


Smaller family sizes

07/08/13

Using the same Cartwright study as mentioned above I looked at the decline in family size in the period following the widespread distribution of the Pill in the UK.

As the table above shows average family size declined from 1967-75. Drawing from survey's carried out by the Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care in the UK between 1967 and 1975 Cartwright shows that in some social classes, for example the unskilled manual labourers average family size fell by almost 0.6. 

 This sources was useful as it provided detailed information over a specific time period from 1967-75. It effectively shows the impact of the pill as it became more widespread and accepted among the British population allowing women to 'manage' pregnancy. 

Delaying conception

09/08/13



The link above is to an Office of National Statistics document from August 2011. A frequently asked questions sheet it provides data on the delaying on conception from 1940 to 1975 a crucial time window that covers both time before the pill, limited distribution and widespread distribution. 

The paper shows that there is a clear trend towards delaying having children. 
  • In England and Wales, the average age at first birth was around 24 during the 1960s, rising to 28 in 2009. 
  • Women who were born in 1940 (and at their peak of reproduction in the 1960s) had on average 2.36 children compared to those born in 1960 who had only 1.98 children. 
  • Those born in 1975 are projected to have 1.87 children on average. 
  • Only 11% of women born in 1940 had no children, compared with 19% of those born in 1960. 
  • Postponing childbearing has, since the mid-1970s, produced a decline in the total fertility rate.
The document was very useful as I could rely on the data presented as it came from a trustworthy source- the Office of National Statistics and it provided data covering more than 20 years before and after the Pill was invented providing opportunity to make a comparison. 

Attitudes towards most recent pregnancy


Using another of Cartwright's studies I examined the attitudes of women towards their last pregnancy.

 Attitudes towards most recent pregnancy:

  • Over the period, women who regretted being pregnant at all reduced from 15% to 11% while women who would have preferred a later pregnancy fell from 17% to 10%. 
  • At the same time, women who were pleased to be pregnant grew from 61% to 67%. 
  • All of the data points towards women having gained effective control of their fertility. 
  • Also during the period women whose pregnancy resulted from contraceptive failure halved from 29% in 1967-8 to 15% in 1975. 
  • Cartwright summarises by suggesting that one of the most significant changes was a decline in “haphazard” fertility 
The Pill empowered women to make conscious decisions about how many children to have and when to have them.

 This source was incredibly useful as i could combine statistics and human data to form an easy to read graph. I loved the fact that my report had some emotional aspect to it, a true reflection of the opinions of people who were first affected by the Pill. 

Issues with collecting data

13/08/19

While researching women's employment history in the UK the results threw up some issues. 


 There is a lack of data on women's representation in the professions before and shortly after the introduction of the Pill. There is a significant shortage of academic literature focused on the impact of the Pill in enabling employment and education choices in the UK. If the academic literature does exist for women's employment in the UK money or access to a university log-in is required.

To combat this I reviewed the conclusions which emerged from work completed in the US and applied them to my own findings and the data I have collected from ONS on women's general employment. I am counting on the similarities of the economies and societal characteristics of the UK and the US and it seems reasonable to suggest that the Pill will have a similar impact in the UK. 

Women's employment and the Pill

15/08/13

The link above is to Martha Bailey's study 'More power to the pill' which highlights, in relation to the US, the fact that there has been limited evaluation of the impact of the contraceptive pill on women's paid work.  

 Findings:

  • Her thesis is that early access to the pill potentially impacts women's employment through their lives by reducing the costs of pursuing careers and increasing the likely returns. 
  • The Pill enabled young women to invest in their career through more education or on the job training whilst at the same time being sexually active and / or getting married. It also 
  • enabled women to time their pregnancies in a way which minimised the impact on their career. 
  • 'with early legal access to contraception, the participation rates of women ages 26 to 30 were around 4 percentage points higher' than the mean and it is the delay in childbearing which is responsible for the difference. 
  • 'oral contraception appears to have had large and permanent effects on young women's fertility and labour market activity'.
As no study exists in the UK I am counting on the similarities of the economies and societal characteristics of the UK and the US. 

 The UK experienced a strong growth in female employment through the 1970s and 1980s. Between 1971and 2011, women's economic activity rate rose from 59% to 74%, the vast majoritty of which took place in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Workforce participation

17/08/13

Trends of economic activity by gender in the UK 1971-2011:

The graph to the right shows the percentage increase in women's workforce participation from 1971-2011. There is a steep increase from 1971 to 1991 from 57% to 72%. 

Women's access to paid employment increased their independence, self-esteem and health status, also adding to the household income. 

 Graph adapted from Resolution foundation analysis, ONS. 

The Power of the Pill

21/08/13

 http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/2624453/Goldin_PowerPill.pdf?sequence=4

 The link above is to Goldin and Katz's paper 'The Power of the Pill.'

 Findings:
Women working in 1970's America 

  • By enabling women to delay marriage and childbirth and divorce these from sexual activity, the Pill increased women's incentives to invest time and effort in acquiring the skills necessary to get well paid jobs. 
  • Particularly seen in in relation to roles in the professions which take a long time to acquire but which have major long term pay offs in terms of better pay.
  • In 1966 40% of women emerging from US universities with a bachelor's degree had specialised in education and only 2% in business. 
  • The comparable figures today are 12% and 50%. 
  • If the Pill was empowering these choices in the US, it seems reasonable to expect that something similar was happening in the UK.

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