The Aftermath of Suffrage: Women, Gender, and Politics in Britain, 1918-1945

This collection explores the aftermath of the Representation of the People Act (1918), which gave some (but not all) British women the vote. Leading experts explore the paths taken by former-suffragists as well as their anti-suffragist adversaries, the practices of suffrage commemoration, and the changing priorities and formations of British feminism in this crucial era. In considering how generational conflict informed the contested legacy of suffragism, these essays examine the impact of universal suffrage on the main political parties. Were the hopes and ambitions invested in women's and universal enfranchisement realized or dashed? How did those concerned evaluate the outcome as the years wore on? And why did the attainment of full adult male suffrage in 1918 became overshadowed by the seemingly more momentous achievement of women's suffrage?

Julie Gottlieb's research interests are in modern British political history, the history of political extremism, women's history and gender studies, particularly women in politics, and the construction of gender identities in the political sphere. She has published a monograph, Feminine Fascism: Women In Britain's Fascist Movement 1923-1945 (London, 2000), and a number of articles on women and fascism in Britain. Richard Toye is Professor of Modern History at the University of Exeter. His books include The Labour Party and the Planned Economy, 1931-1951 (2003), Lloyd George and Churchill: Rivals for Greatness (2007), and Churchill's Empire: The World That Made Him and the World He Made (2010).

Introduction; Julie V. Gottlieb and Richard Toye

1. Emmeline Pankhurst in the Aftermath of Suffrage, 1918-1928; June Purvis

2. From Prudent Housewife to Empire Shopper: Party Appeals to the Female Voter, 1918-1928; David Thackeray

3. The Impact of Mass Democracy on British Political Culture, 1918 - 1939; Pat Thane

4. The House of Commons in the Aftermath of Suffrage; Richard Toye

5. Feminism and the Modern Woman: Debates in the British Popular Press, 1918-1939; Adrian Bingham

6. 'Doing Great Public Work Privately': Female Antis in the Interwar Years; Philippe Vervaecke

7. Towards an Archaeology of Interwar Women's Politics: the Local and the Everyday; Karen Hunt and June Hannam

8. 'Shut Against the Woman and Workman Alike': Democratizing Foreign Policy Between the Wars; Helen McCarthy

9. 'We were done the moment we gave women the vote': The Female Franchise Factor and the Munich By-elections, 1938-39; Julie Gottlieb

10. 'They have made their mark entirely out of proportion to their numbers': Women and Parliamentary Committees, c. 1918-1945; Mari Takayanagi

11. The Political Autobiographies of Early Women MPs c.1918-1964; Krista Cowman

12. 'Women for Westminster,' Feminism, and the Limits of Non-partisan Associational Culture; Laura Beers