Women and the Women's Movement in Britain : 1914-1999

Using the widest range of evidence, from the political feminist pressure groups to popular women's magazines, this book provides a challenging and original analysis of the adaptation of the women's movement in Britain in the period between the winning of the vote and the late 1950's. It examines how women successfully worked with the grain of change in the political system; but it also considers the nature of the long-term decline of the organised movement. This new edition is fully revised and brings the history of the women's movement in Britain right up to the end of the 20th century. The author focuses attention on the different generations of women involved in the women's movement since 1914 and examines the marked trend towards marriage and motherhood among British women since the 1920s, arguing that domesticity has, historically, been a positive influence promoting change in the lives of women. Martin Pugh has a very wide focus, assessing feminist pressure groups, women's organizations, and the growth of popular women's magazines. The book is brought up-to-date with two new chapters on the women's movement in the 1960s and on the influence of Britain's first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. This revised edition brings the history of the women's movement in Britain up to the end of the 20th century. The author focuses attention on the different generations of women involved in the women's movement since 1914 and examines the marked trend towards marriage and motherhood amongst British women since the 1920s, arguing that domesticity has, historically, been a positive influence promoting change in the lives of women. Pugh has a very wide focus, assessing feminist pressure groups, women's organizations and the growth of popular women's magazines. The 2nd edition has been expanded with two new chapters on the women's movement in the 1960s and on the influence of Britain's first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher Front Matter....Pages i-xii Women and the Women’s Movement before 1914....Pages 1-5 The Impact of the Great War....Pages 6-42 Strategy and Tactics of the Women’s Movement in the 1920s....Pages 43-71 The Anti-Feminist Reaction....Pages 72-100 The Domestication of British Politics....Pages 101-153 The Political Containment of Women 1918–1939....Pages 154-208 The Cult of Domesticity in the 1930s....Pages 209-234 The New Feminism and the Decline of the Women’s Movement in the 1930s....Pages 235-263 Women in the Second World War....Pages 264-283 The Nadir of British Feminism 1945–1959?....Pages 284-311 Women’s Liberation....Pages 312-333 Feminism in the Era of Thatcherism, 1979–1999....Pages 334-353 Back Matter....Pages 354-387 "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."--BOOK JACKET. Provides a study of the women's movement in Britain in the period between the winning of the vote and the late 1950s. It examines how women successfully worked with the grain of change in the political system and also considers the nature of the long-term decline of the organized movement.