Women and the women's movement in Britain, 1914-1999 / Martin Pugh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pugh, Martin.

Contributor:

Pugh, Martin.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Feminism--Great Britain--History.

Feminism.

Great Britain.

History.

Women--Great Britain--Social conditions.

Women.

Social conditions.

Physical Description:

xii, 387 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, N.Y. : St. Martin's Press, 2000.

Summary:

From the late 1920s women dominated the British electorate. This book tackles many of the questions arising out of women's success in winning the vote in 1918. Did women capitalise on their new status by influencing British politics? Did feminism change its strategy or its objectives after the First World War? Why did the movement appear to enter a long decline from the 1930s to the 1950s? This new edition extends the topic with an examination of the emergence of Women's Liberation in the 1960s and 1970s, and of how feminism fared under Thatcher.

Martin Pugh focuses on the different generations of women, and particularly on the difficulty encountered in recruiting from the younger women between the two world wars in order to replace the older generation of feminists who had fought for the vote before 1914. He also examines the significance of the marked trend towards marriage and motherhood among British women between the 1920s and 1970s, and argues that domesticity has, historically, been a positive influence in promoting change in the lives of women rather than simply a hindrance to change.

The range of this book is unusually wide. It assesses not only the feminist groups but also the mass women's organisations and the growth of the popular women's magazines; it considers the impact not only of feminists such as Eleanor Rathbone and Vera Brittain but also of anti-feminist women such as Barbara Cartland. Pugh draws on his earlier work on both British politics and women's suffrage to produce a coherent analysis of the complex relationship between the organised women's movement, the majority of women and the male political establishment throughout the twentieth century.

Contents:

1 Women and the Women's Movement before 1914 1

2 The Impact of the Great War 6

Patriotism and the Women's Movement 1914-1915 7

Continuity: Housekeeping and Motherhood 12

Discontinuity: Women and Wartime Employment 18

Women in Uniform 30

Women's Enfranchisement and the Separate Spheres 34

3 Strategy and Tactics of the Women's Movement in the 1920s 43

The Demise of the Militant Tradition 44

From Suffrage to Equal Citizenship 50

The Women's Party in Local Government 56

The Alternative: Party Politics 61

Why Was There No Women's Party in Britain? 66

4 The Anti-Feminist Reaction 72

Femininity and Feminism 73

Masculinity and Feminism 76

Demobilisation 80

Housekeeping as a Profession 83

Population and Motherhood 87

Women's Employment and the Depression 90

5 The Domestication of British Politics 101

Women and the Agenda of Politics 101

Women and the Peace Movement 103

The Significance of the Women's Legislation of the 1920s 107

Conservative Politics for Women 124

Labour Housewives and Socialist Feminists 129

Liberal Feminism and the Liberal Party 139

Women as Voters Between the Wars 141

6 The Political Containment of Women 1918-1939 154

The Competition for Candidatures 154

Women's Strategies as Parliamentary Candidates 170

Women's Careers as Backbench MPs 190

The Role of Women in Government 201

7 The Cult of Domesticity in the 1930s 209

The Rise and Rise of Women's Magazines 209

Housework Expands to Fill the Time Available 218

Marriage: the 'Best Job of All'? 222

Citizenship for Homemakers: the WIs 226

Politics for Consumers: the Women's Co-operative Guild 230

8 The New Feminism and The Decline of the Women's Movement in the 1930s 235

Equal Rights versus the New Feminism 236

Nancy Astor and the Moral Reform Tradition 244

Welfare Feminism and Birth Control 249

The Two Generations of Feminism 257

9 Women in the Second World War 264

House and Home in Wartime 265

Family and Morality 269

The Mobilisation of Women 271

Women's Politics: Revivalism and Consensus 275

10 The Nadir of British Feminism 1945-1959? 284

The Working Woman in the Post-war Economy 285

The Age of the Consumer 289

Motherhood and the Welfare State 293

Political Strategies 298

11 Women's Liberation 312

Origins of the Revival 314

The Character and Organisation of the Movement in Britain 317

Issues and Campaigns 324

The Turning Point? 330

12 Feminism in the Era of Thatcherism, 1979-1999 334

'One Prime Minister Doesn't Make a Matriarchy' 335

Feminism and Anti-Militarism 337

The Revolution Continues 339

Anti-Feminism and Male Reactions 343

Back to Politics 347

New Directions? 351.

Notes:

Rev. ed. of: Women and the women's movement in Britain, 1914-1959.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 372-381) and index.

Related Work:

Pugh, Martin. Women and the women's movement in Britain, 1914-1959.

ISBN:

0312234910

OCLC:

43561567