For nineteen years, a group of women maintained camps around the perimeter of an American base at Greenham Common in Berkshire, protesting the storage of nuclear weapons. The actions were part of a wider movement, spearheaded by CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament). The American military eventually withdrew from Greenham and in 2002, a memorial garden … Read more
When we come to think about nineteenth-century feminism, we can’t celebrate its achievements without recognising what it was achieved on the back of. In so many cases, women’s greater contribution to the public sphere [was] through social action, through social work, through philanthropy […], so often those things were achieved on the basis of … Read more
Although the writer Mary Hays is unknown to many today, she was an important early feminist, whose ideas were well ahead of her time. She lived in an era when women had few legal and social rights and their options were restricted by social convention. Born in 1759, Hay came from a family of religious … Read more
Feminists have accused domestic magazines published during the 1950s of helping to establish a culture in which married women have no alternative to full-time housewifery. This post examines their accusations as they relate to Woman’s Weekly, a weekly magazine targeting housewives. Throughout 1958, Woman’s Weekly gives the impression that full-time housewifery is enjoyable and fulfilling. … Read more
1918 and 1928 are landmark years in histories of women’s involvement in British parliamentary politics. In December 1918, following the passage of the Representation of the People Act in February, some women voted for the first time in a UK General Election. In July 1928, the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act made all … Read more
Barbara Bodichon was a key figure in the early women’s suffrage movement, organising one of the first women’s suffrage committees and coordinating the first mass petition to go before parliament on the question of enfranchising women. Bodichon was born in East Sussex in 1827 as the illegitimate daughter of Benjamin Leigh-Smith and Anne Longden, a … Read more
It might be tempting to think, given the name ‘Women’s March’, that the protests held on the 21st of January 2017 were voicing, chiefly, women’s issues. It’s true that there is more than sufficient reason for women to be outraged to see a man like Donald Trump, whose misogynist comments and behaviour were exposed by … Read more
For many people, organisations dedicated to women’s issues, and feminist groups, are one and the same. The first British Women’s Institute (WI) was founded in Anglesey in September 1915, to encourage the rural community to engage with food production for the war effort. By the end of World War One, 760 local WIs had been … Read more
The strikes at the Ford factories in Dagenham in 1968 and 1984 are considered landmark disputes in labour-relations. A limited-edition plate (c.1984), that belongs to the collections of the Women’s Library at the London School of Economics, commemorates the strikes and their legacy. The message of the plate is clear; the strikes were instrumental in … Read more
We’re clearly soldiers in petticoats And dauntless crusaders for woman’s votes Though we adore men individually We agree that as a group they’re rather stupid! In 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst, her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia, and a small group of other supporters founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (WPSU). The group adopted the slogan … Read more
