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
While Charlotte Despard is well known for her work as a suffragist, her work with the poor is less recognised. Despard left her upper middle-class life and home in Esher, Surrey to move to one of the most deprived areas of London and improve the lives of the people that lived there. She helped make … Read more
The campaign for the vote was not all stone throwing, picture slashing, placard waving and building burning. Of more importance was the struggle for hearts and minds. This blog will look at the role of the visual arts, pictures, posters and postcards, in the women’s suffrage movement. Two organisations were at the forefront of this campaign: the … 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
The Women’s Suffrage movement is not often associated with male supporters in the popular imagination. Whilst we often remember the women who fought for the vote, their male counterparts can be left by the wayside. But the women’s suffrage movement did have its male supporters, the most famous of which included James Keir Hardie, founder … 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
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
Jayaben Desai, living a quiet life in Willesden in the 1970s, would not have been tipped by many at the time as an influential political activist and defender of rights. And yet, circumstances, together with her sense of justice and her determination to see justice done, took her into national and international headlines as one … 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
