Citizens not feminists: the boundary negotiated between citizenship and feminism by mainstream women's organisations in England, 1928-39

Abstract

This article explores the concepts of citizenship and feminism as interpreted by six large voluntary and mainstream women's groups in England during the years 1928–39. The six organisations considered here are the Mothers' Union, the Young Women's Christian Association, the Catholic Women's League, the National Federation of Women's Institutes, the National Union of Townswomen's Guilds and the National Council of Women. The article asks why these organisations, which declared they were not feminist were committed to highlighting, and fighting for, the rights of newly enfranchised women citizens. It is concluded that for these organisations the concept of citizenship for women, as opposed to feminism, was a more effective way to secure social and economic rights for the majority of women during the inter-war period.     

Fragmentation,Conflict, and Competition: Islamist Anti-civilian Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT

In spite of the shared high profile of recent Islamist attacks on civilians in sub-Saharan Africa, patterns of anti-civilian violence differ across and within violent Islamist groups, and the countries in which they are active. This research seeks to explain this variation by situating Islamist violence within the sub-national spaces in which such groups operate, and the wider conflict environment in which they choose to use, or limit the use of, anti-civilian violence. Drawing on data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Dataset, the research finds that violent Islamist groups are more likely to target civilians where they are the most active conflict agent, even when other conflict agents are active in the same spaces; but less likely to do so when they are relatively weak and in competition with other non-state armed groups. Anti-civilian violence is thus deployed strategically by violent Islamist groups, while its function as a signalling or retributive policing tool depends on the relative strength of groups in relation to actors in the wider conflict arena.     

Occupations and wages — the case of public administration in Britain’

Both local authorities and central government (represented by the Department of the Environment, DoE) have responded to the pressures affecting the role of the council sector in the British housing system by attempting to develop new strategies aimed at management and maintenance. This paper assesses the stimuli which have led to the creation of one such initiative, Estate Action (EA). It also seeks to evaluate the extent to which EA has fulfilled its stated remit of helping authorities to innovate in order to revitalize run‐down council estates. It is argued that conflicting pressures within EA operate not only to limit some of its effects, but also create substantial difficulties for local authorities.     

Book reviews

The following books are reviewed.

Kateryn parr: the making of a queen, SUSAN E. JAMES, 1999 Aldershot: Ashgate. 480 pp., ISBN 1 84014 683 4, £47.50

Mary Queen of Scots: romance and nation JAYNE ELIZABETH LEWIS, 1998 London: Routledge. 260 pp., ISBN 0 415 11480 2, hardback, £45; ISBN 0 415 11481 0, paperback, £15.99

Exile: a memoir of 1939 BRONKA SCHNEIDER, 1998 (Erika Bourguignon & Barbara Hill Rigney, Eds) Columbus: Ohio State University Press. xxi + 132 pp., ISBN 0 8142 0808 8

Speeches and Trials of the Militant Suffragettes: the Women's Social and Political Union, 1903-18 CHERYL R. JORGENSEN-EARP, 1999 Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses. 400 pp., ISBN 0 8386 3788 4, hardback, £38.00

Women in Britain since 1900 SUE BRULEY, 1999 Basingstoke: Macmillan. vii + 227 pp., ISBN 0 333 61838 6

Working Out Gender: perspectives from labour history MARGARET WALSH (Ed.), 1999 Aldershot: Ashgate. xi + 235 pp., ISBN 0 7546 0058 0

The Contest for Social Science: relations and representations of gender and class EILEEN YEO, 1996 London: Rivers Oram Press. xx + 396 pp., ISBN 1 85489 068 9, £30

Girls and Women, Men and Boys: gender in Taradale, 1886-1930 CAROLINE DALEY, 1999 Auckland: Auckland University Press, viii + 216 pp., ISBN 1 86940 211 1, NZ$39.95

Politics and Society: the Journals of Lady Knightley of Fawsley, 1885-1913 PETER GORDON (Ed.), 1999 Northampton: Northamptonshire Record Society. x + 535 pp., ISBN 0 901275 61 1, hardback, £20

Reading Witchcraft: stories of early English witches MARION GIBSON, 1999 London: Routledge. 242 pp., ISBN 0 415 20646 4, £14.99

Music and Gender PIRKKO MOISALA & BEVERLEY DIAMOND (Eds), 2000 Urbana: University of Illinois Press. xiii + 376 pp., ISBN 0 252 06865 3, $24.95

Parrot Pie for Breakfast: an anthology of women pioneers JANE ROBINSON, 1999 Oxford: Oxford University Press. xiv +177 pp., ISBN 0 19 288020 9, paperback, £8.99

Gender and Power in Britain, 1640-1990 SUSAN KINGSLEY KENT, 1999 London: Routledge. xii + 364 pp., ISBN 0 415 14742 5, £14.99

The Diary of Elizabeth Richards 1798-1825: from the Wexford Rebellion to family life in The Netherlands MARIE DE JONG-IJSSELSTEIN (Ed., with an Introduction by Kevin Whelan), 1999 Hilversum: Verloren. 171 pp., ISBN 90 6550 169 X, Fl. 35.26/Euro 16.00

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: comet of the Enlightenment ISOBEL GRUNDY, 1999 Oxford: Oxford University Press. xxiii + 680 pp., ISBN 1 19 811280 0, £30

Defining the Victorian Nation: class, race, gender and the Reform Act of 1867 CATHERINE HALL, KEITH MCCLELLAND & JANE RENDALL, 2000 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. xiii + 303 pp., ISBN 0 521 57653 9     

Moral Dilemmas and Women’s Rights: the attitude of the Mothers’ Union and Catholic Women’s League to divorce,birth control and abortion in England, 1928–1939

In order to ensure that women benefited from their newly won rights as citizens in 1918 and 1928, the Mothers’ Union and Catholic Women’s League campaigned, along with feminist and political women’s organisations, to enhance the role and status of women in society. Difficulties emerged, however, when changes in public attitudes led to the liberalisation of the law in relation to divorce and birth control coupled with the growing demand within the women’s movement for safe and legal abortion. This article examines the arguments put forward by the two groups on how these reforms would undermine the role of women as housewives, mothers and citizens. It is argued that despite the fact that both groups appeared to be out of step with the wider women’s movement, they succeeded in highlighting a number of major social and welfare concerns facing many women at this time. As a result, they too made a significant contribution to the campaign for women’s rights during the interwar years.     

Book reviews

Computer Software — Legal Protection in the United Kingdom, 2nd edition Henry Carr and Richard Arnold Sweet and Maxwell 1992. ISBN 0 421 44380 4 £45

Legal Protection of Computer Programs in Europe — a Guide to the EC Directive Bridget Czarnota and Robert J Hart Butterworths 1991. ISBN 0 406 00542 7

Intellectual Property Rights in Sound Recordings, Film and Video J A L Sterling Sweet and Maxwell 1992. ISBN 0 421 4570 9

The European Market Place James Hogan Macmillan 1991. ISBN 0 333 51858 6

Intellectual Property D Bainbridge Pitman 1992. ISBN 0 273 034265 X