Manchester University Press
1 ‘Open the eyes of England’
Abstract
Women were often active agents of change. Their involvement in elections, political protests and petitioning pre-dated the establishment of formal women's political associations in the 1880s and partial female enfranchisement in 1918. A gender inclusive approach allows for a more nuanced understanding of political machinations, power and the unprecedented popularity of both conservatism and unionism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. From 1885 to 1911, Unionist campaign focused on Britain as many believed that home rule would be defeated at Westminster. Independent of the Liberal Unionist fold, the Ladies' Committee of the indigenous Irish Unionist Alliance had a central office in Dublin in the 1890s and small local female Unionist associations were active in Ulster in the early twentieth century. The delayed third home rule bill of 1912 passed in 1914, but was immediately suspended for the duration of the war with special treatment promised for Ulster.
Abstract
Women were often active agents of change. Their involvement in elections, political protests and petitioning pre-dated the establishment of formal women's political associations in the 1880s and partial female enfranchisement in 1918. A gender inclusive approach allows for a more nuanced understanding of political machinations, power and the unprecedented popularity of both conservatism and unionism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. From 1885 to 1911, Unionist campaign focused on Britain as many believed that home rule would be defeated at Westminster. Independent of the Liberal Unionist fold, the Ladies' Committee of the indigenous Irish Unionist Alliance had a central office in Dublin in the 1890s and small local female Unionist associations were active in Ulster in the early twentieth century. The delayed third home rule bill of 1912 passed in 1914, but was immediately suspended for the duration of the war with special treatment promised for Ulster.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xii
- Introduction 1
- 1 ‘Open the eyes of England’ 11
- 2 Christabel Pankhurst 29
- 3 At the heart of the party? 46
- 4 Conservative women and the Primrose League’s struggle for survival, 1914–32 66
- 5 Modes and models of Conservative women’s leadership in the 1930s 89
- 6 The middlebrow and the making of a ‘new common sense’ 104
- 7 Churchill, women, and the politics of gender 122
- 8 ‘The statutory woman whose main task was to explore what women …were likely to think’ 140
- 9 Conservatism, gender and the politics of everyday life, 1950s–1980s 156
- 10 Feminist responses to Thatcher and Thatcherism 175
- 11 The (feminised) contemporary Conservative Party 192
- 12 Conserving Conservative women 215
- 13 Women2Win and the feminisation of the UK Conservative Party 232
- Index 242
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xii
- Introduction 1
- 1 ‘Open the eyes of England’ 11
- 2 Christabel Pankhurst 29
- 3 At the heart of the party? 46
- 4 Conservative women and the Primrose League’s struggle for survival, 1914–32 66
- 5 Modes and models of Conservative women’s leadership in the 1930s 89
- 6 The middlebrow and the making of a ‘new common sense’ 104
- 7 Churchill, women, and the politics of gender 122
- 8 ‘The statutory woman whose main task was to explore what women …were likely to think’ 140
- 9 Conservatism, gender and the politics of everyday life, 1950s–1980s 156
- 10 Feminist responses to Thatcher and Thatcherism 175
- 11 The (feminised) contemporary Conservative Party 192
- 12 Conserving Conservative women 215
- 13 Women2Win and the feminisation of the UK Conservative Party 232
- Index 242
