The turn of the tide: sexuality and politics, 1928–31

Abstract

Abstract 1928 marked the culmination of efforts directed towards women's enfranchisement. The struggle to obtain the vote for all women was a central focus of the first wave of British feminism. This article examines the way the achievement of the vote was constructed in the pages of Time & Tide, a weekly paper founded by feminists in 1920. The debate took place in the context of a shift in the construction of women's sexuality which intensified and made more complex the feelings about political equality of feminists and others writing for the paper. Feminists such as Margaret Rhondda, Winifred Holtby, Cicely Hamilton and Naomi Mitchison offered perspectives on gender equality and difference which were shaped by class and marital status. They came together, however, in their desire to maintain a vision of the independent woman.