Housewives and Citizens: Domesticity and the Women's Movement in England, 1928-64 - Couverture souple

Beaumont, Caitriona

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0719097258 ISBN 13 : 9780719097256

Editeur : Manchester University Press, 2015

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

This book explores the contribution that five conservative, voluntary and popular women's organisations made to women's lives and to the campaign for women's rights throughout the period 1928-64. The five groups included in this study are: the Mothers' Union, the Catholic Women's League, the National Council of Women, the National Federation of Women's Institutes and the National Union of Townswomen's Guilds. The book challenges existing histories of the women's movement that suggest the movement went into decline during the inter-war period only to be revived by the emergence of the Women's Liberation Movement in the late 1960s. It is argued that the term 'women's movement' must be revised to allow a broader understanding of female agency encompassing feminist, political, religious and conservative women's groups who campaigned to improve the status of women throughout the twentieth century. This book provides an analysis of the way in which these five voluntary women's organisations adopted the concept of democratic citizenship, with its rights and duties, to validate their demands for reform. Their involvement in a number of campaigns relating to social, welfare and economic rights is explored and assessed. The book provides a radical re-assessment of this period of women's history and in doing so makes a significant contribution to on-going debates about the shape and the impact of the women's movement in twentieth-century Britain. The book is essential reading for those interested in modern British history, voluntary action and the history of the women's movement.

Revue de presse :

Housewives and Citizens offers a refreshing perspective on women's activism in 20th century England, enlarging and challenging- our study of the past --Professor June Purvis, Times Higher Education 21 November 2013

Caitríona Beaumont makes an important contribution to a growing historiography which seeks to suggest that the period from universal female suffrage in 1928 to the emergence of 'Second Wave' feminism in the 1960s was a time of greater achievements for the women's movement than is often assumed. --Dr. David Thackeray, Contemporary British History, 28, 2, 2014

Beaumont has provided a scrupulous, scholarly and convincing history of the extensive role of women and the women's movement in mid twentieth century public life. Dr Lucy Delap, Economic History Review, 68, 1 February 2015.

An impressive and wide-ranging exploration of a still neglected part of the history of British women in the twentieth century. Dr Anne Logan, Twentieth Century British History, July 2014.

Housewives and Citizens is an important revisionist work that suggests a redefinition of the women's movement and women s activism. Professor Stephen Brooke, Journal of British Studies, 53, 4, October 2014.

--Various

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Manchester University Press
• Date d'édition: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0719097258
• ISBN 13: 9780719097256
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 256