Early Twentieth-Century British Women Research Articles

Women's words, women's bodies: late nineteenth century English feminisms in the ‘Interview’ column of the Women's Penny Paper/Woman's Herald (Oct. 27, 1888–Apr. 23, 1892)

ABSTRACT Historians have written extensively on early twentieth-century British women’s suffrage, and late nineteenth century feminisms. Nevertheless, there is still an insufficiency in studies that attend to the textual and visual contents of late nineteenth century feminist periodicals. Non-mainstream periodicals produced by women for women allow us to explore distinctive hybrid modes of gender. They also offer us exclusive access into the everyday experiences, and individual thoughts of actual late nineteenth century women. This article focuses on women’s interviews and portraits published in the Women’s Penny Paper/Women’s Herald, demonstrating that they often combined traditional with more radical emergent signifiers of womanhood in written and pictorial form. This is a journey into the verbal and non-verbal messages communicated through women’s words and bodies, expanding our collective archaeological project of reinterpreting the past from women’s point of view, and the manner in which New Women utilised their choice of words and appearance to gain power.

Anarcho-Feminism in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain, 1880–1914

This article seeks to interpret the synthesis between anarchism and feminism as developed by a group of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century British women. It will demonstrate that the woman who embraced anarchism made a clear contribution to the growth of feminism. They offered a distinctive analysis of the reasons for female oppression, whether it was within the economic sphere or within marriage. The anarcho-feminists maintained that if an egalitarian society was ever to be built, differences in roles – whether in sexual relationships, childcare, political life or work – had to be based on capacity and preference, not gender. By combining these questions they developed a feminism that was all embracing at a time when the struggle for the vote was becoming the main question for women.

'Deeds and Words': The Woman's Press and the Politics of Print

The political and constitutional impact of the early twentieth-century British women's suffrage movement has been the subject of extensive research since the advent of second-wave feminism, yet the broader cultural impact of the movement remains a developing scholarly area. Murray examines the role of the Woman's Press, the publishing house established in 1907 as a strategic component of the Pankhursts' influential Women's Social and Political Union. The press is located within multiple and interpenetrative analytical contexts: examined in turn are its role in the various power struggles of the WSPU and the broader British suffrage movement; its significance as an independent means of cultural production around the contested site of the suffragette; and its ambiguity as a feminist publishing house run by male pro-suffragist and lobbyist, Frederick Pethick Lawrence. The Woman's Press and its central London retail outlet figured prominently in WSPU administration as a material concern-as literature packing department, revenue raiser and recruiting centre. Yet, symbolically, the Woman's Press was also integral to the campaigning of the WSPU to an extent that has generally remained under-examined. As an independent publishing house the press constituted a vital conduit guaranteeing the entry of suffrage arguments into public discourse, and a crucial tool for appropriating and refashioning the contested image of the suffragette in the wider politico-cultural landscape of the day. Acknowledging the significance of the Woman's Press provides both a necessary historical context for the post-1970 feminist press boom, as well as a counterpoint to the ongoing political-financial conundrums that beset its modern descendents.