Our Mothers' Land: Chapters in Welsh Women’s History, 1830-1939 (Gender Studies in Wales)

This volume marks the twentieth anniversary of the first publication of this groundbreaking book. It reflects the pioneering research of its contributors to the development of modern Welsh women’s history. The eight chapters range widely across time (1830-1939) and place, from exploring working class women’s community sanctions and the perils facing collier’s wife to the very different lifestyles of ironmasters’ wives. They also tackle the idealised images of respectable Welsh women in periodicals and the tragic reality of those who took their own lives as well as showing us the transgressive actions of suffrage rebels. They examine how women carved out space within movements such as temperance and track the fluctuating fortunes of women’s employment and domestic life from the Great War to the eve of the Second World War. This volume makes available once more a book that has become a classic in its field and a vital part of the historiography of modern Wales. This expanded edition also brings us up to date. It reveals the research and publications of the last two decades and comments upon the extent to which Wales has moved beyond being the familiar ‘land of our fathers’. Written in a lively and accessible style, it nevertheless draws upon a wealth of research and expertise and should appeal to both the academic community and to a much wider readership.

this Lively Volume - The First Devoted To Welsh Women's History - Rescues The Submerged Lives Of Women Over The Last Two Centuries From Oblivion, And Uses Their Varied Histories To Redefine Wales As Not Merely 'the Land Of Our Fathers'. What Was The Role Of Women In Enforcing The Rural Community's Sanctions Against Adulterers? What Impression Of Women's Lives Is Given By The Welsh-language Periodicals Of The Last Century? How Did Women Organize In The Temperance Associations And The Suffrage Movement? What Toll Did Women's Work In The Coal Communities Take? Did The Welsh 'mam' Survive Into The Inter-war Period? These Are Some Of The Questions Addressed By The Contributors To This Volume.

Originally published in 1991, and made available once again in this new edition, Our Mothers Land had been a pioneering text in the then-nascent field of Welsh womens history. Ranging widely across both time and place, the book explores the many different lifestyles of Welsh women and also addresses the idealized image of Welsh women presented in periodicals, as well as the transgressive actions of advocates for suffrage. This is a new and expanded edition of a path-breaking book first published in 1991. It was the first volume of essays published on Welsh women's history and has become a classic, helping to stimulate much research on the subject. This twentieth anniversary edition makes the original text available once more.