The Millennium and after

Decline of servant wife and breadwinner husband ideology.  Women still do the bulk of domestic chores but men are now more likely to share childcare.

Decline in marriage and the rise of the single parent family in which the majority of single parents are women.

More freedom and independence for women who are now more likely to live alone due to rising incomes.

Feminisation of the labour force as the presence of women in paid work rises to over 50%. Many more women in higher education and the professions.

The gender pay gap has narrowed but women’s pay on average is still about 18% less than that of men. Women have access to a far broader range of occupations, but there are areas where the glass ceiling’ still operates.

Normalisation of Lesbianism – a profound change from being in the closetin the 1960s.

Increasing acceptance of feminist values and aspirations, but sexual violence still very common and a rise of misogyny as the internet becomes established and men vent their anger at women’s new status in society by online trolling.

2000 Half of all mothers with children under five in work, a huge rise compared to the 1960s.

2005 Same sex civil partnerships became lawful.

2008 Less than 6% of reported cases of rape taken to court – and only a very small number of those secured convictions.

2010 140 women elected MPs, making 21.5% of the total but still a minority.

2012 Laura Bates launched the Everyday Sexism project on Twitter to report instances of sexism. Thousands of women send in Tweets covering a wide range of areas, including cases of harassment, assault, institutional gender bias, sacked for being pregnant, lack of access to promotion etc.

2013   More women than men applying for university.

2014 Same sex marriage became lawful. Lesbian couples become visible and the term wife and wife becomes widespread.

2017-8   #MeToo movement.  A number of high profile women made it known that they have been subjected to sexual harassment.