Overview
'This comprehensive summary of suffrage history in Britainis a model of clarity and concision, [ ] leading the reader through the arguments and controversies that continue to swirl around this topic. An essential aid for teacher, student and researcher.” Dr Sandra Holton, TrinityCollege, Dublin
The Women’s Suffrage Movement was a phenomenon unparalleled in British History. It was the largest women’s movement the country had ever seen, and it succeeded both in gaining equal voting rights for women, and in securing their right to be elected to the House of Commons.
In this second edition of his widely acclaimed text, Professor Smith explains how, beneath the surface of a movement for change in franchise policy, reformers and their opponents alike were fighting a broader ideological battle that seemed to threaten the very roots of Victorian Britain.
Smith explores how supporters of women’s suffrage fought this battle through both militant and democratic suffragist tactics. He argues that it was not militancy but political manoeuvring that finally brought about equal franchise rights while the larger goal of undermining gender structures was much more difficult to attain.
In this new edition, the author:
· Provides an up-to-date synthesis of the most recent scholarship
· Presents new evidence on the backstage collaboration between Conservative women and the NUSEC to persuade the Conservative Party to endorse equal franchise rights in the 1920s
· Emphasises the effectiveness of the political manoeuvring that brought eventual success to the movement
An ideal introduction for those approaching the material for the first time, this is essential reading for teacher and student alike.
Dr. Harold L. Smith is Professor of History at the University of Houston-Victoria, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain. He is the author or co-author of five previous books and numerous journal articles. These include: (with Judith N. McArthur) Minnie Fisher Cunningham: A Suffragist’s Life in Politics (2003); Britain in the Second World War: A Social History (1996); British Feminism in the Twentieth Century (1990).
Synopsis
A new edition of Smith’s popular account of organised women’s suffrage.
- Concise guide to the topic ideal for students researching essays, preparing for seminar discussions or revising for exams
- Unlike other studies it pays special attention to the period after 1914 when suffrage legislation was actually obtained
- It provides new evidence drawn from the author’s research on how the main post-1918 women’s organisation [the NUSEC] worked with Conservative Party women