‘Those who formed the Open Door Council have for some time been viewing with increasing alarm the present tendency to legislate with the ostensible object of improving the lot of the woman worker.’ [1] So began the first report of the Open Door Council (ODC) in 1927. On the surface, legislation to improve the lot of … Read more
Constance Gore-Booth (1868-1927), a leading figure in the Irish Revolution and a prominent campaigner for women’s suffrage, was the first woman elected to Westminster. The eldest of five children, Constance came from a privileged, upper-class Irish Protestant family. Prior to embarking on her political career, Constance studied art in London and Paris. In Paris, she … Read more
‘It would be a great saving of effort to work for one Blanket Bill remedying all the remaining injustices, designed to abolish sex discrimination in law and to establish and maintain equality before the law for all citizens without distinctions based on sex.’ [1] -Dorothy Evans Rather than slowly chipping away at individual pieces of … Read more
When we think of women campaigning for the vote we tend to think of the Suffragettes, those organised by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) led by the redoubtable Emmeline Pankhurst. We may also think of the Suffragists, women who campaigned for the vote within the bounds of the law. These women were principally … Read more
Since its opening in 1886, Royal Holloway College has had many student-led societies for sport, politics and other interests. In the 1920s, the College had an active Society for Equal Citizenship, which was a feminist group affiliated with the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship (NUSEC). The organisation formerly known as the National Union … Read more
Following the 1918 Representation of the People Act the organisation formerly known as the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) transformed into the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship (NUSEC). Despite their main object ‘to secure a real equality of liberties, status and opportunities between men and women’ there was tension and disagreement … Read more
‘Anybody that would try to break up an affair as wonderful as this, with these kinds of proceedings with these wonderful people and wonderful girls from the entire world have gotta be on some kind of dope’.[1] This was the retort of Miss World host Bob Hope following the protest of feminist activists at the … Read more
Visitors to our Festival of History back in June may remember having witnessed a suffragette martial arts class. Entitled Jam, Jerusalem & Jui-Jitsu, these demonstrations gave members of the public an insight into one of the many tactics employed by the WSPU as part of their campaign to win the vote. Viewed traditionally as the … Read more
Throughout the Second World War British feminist groups remained active, pushing for legal and economic equality between men and women. The war had thrown into stark relief questions about the nature of the society the British were fighting to preserve. For some, this highlighted faults in this society that were contradictory to the wars lofty … Read more
