Feminism, citizenship and social activity: The role and importance of local women’s organisations, Nottingham 1918-1969 Samantha Clements, B.A., M.A. Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2008 ABSTRACT This local study of single-sex organisations in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire is an attempt to redress some of the imbalanced coverage given to this area of history thus far. A chronological study, it examines the role, importance and, to some extent, impact of a wide range of women’s organisations in the local context. Some were local branches of national organisations, others were specifically concerned with local issues. The local focus allows a challenge to be made to much current thought as to the strength of a “women’s movement” in the years between the suffrage movement and the emergence of a more radical form of feminism in the 1970s. The strength of feminist issues and campaigning is studied in three periods – the inter-war period, the Second World War and its immediate aftermath, and the 1950s and 1960s. The first two periods have previously been studied on a national level but, until recently, the post-Second World war era has been written off as overwhelmingly domestic and therefore unconstructive to the achievement of any feminist aims. This study suggests that, at a local level, this is not the case and that other conclusions reached about twentieth century feminism at a national level are not always applicable to the local context. The study also goes further than attempting to track interest in equality feminism in the mid years of the century by discussing the importance of citizenship campaigns and the social dimension of membership of women’s organisations. The former has been introduced into the academic arena by Caitriona Beaumont and her ideas are assessed and expanded upon. As a result the thesis makes strong claims that citizenship activity was of vital importance to the empowerment of British women in the twentieth century. The importance of a single-sex social sphere in allowing women to develop as individuals, is also recognised in each of the three periods. ii CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements vi Abbreviations vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Debates on feminism and the women’s movement between the wars 6 The Second World War and its aftermath: continuing debates, 1939-1949 17 Feminism and women’s organisations 1950-1969: nadir or rebirth? 30 Questions, problems, sources and methods 37 CHAPTER TWO: THE INTERWAR PERIOD - NATIONAL PATTERNS AND LOCAL REFLECTIONS 56 The national context: new freedoms and continued obstacles, 1918-1939 58 The women’s organisations and the national agenda 69 Nottingham: the local context 84 Nottingham “organised” girls and women: fragmentation, overlap and patterns of co-operation 92 CHAPTER THREE: FEMINISM, CITIZENSHIP AND LEISURE IN INTERWAR NOTTINGHAM 111 The local press and its coverage of “women’s issues” 116 Feminism and the “sex war” in the local community 128 iii Local feminism and local politics 134 Citizenship and welfare 137 A new avenue for culture and sociability 148 The dominance of the domestic: stifling or affirmative? 152 CHAPTER FOUR: WAR AND THE WELFARE STATE – WOMEN AND THEIR ORGANISATIONS 1939-1949 162 British women 1939-1949 163 National organisations and issues 173 Nottingham at war and beyond 186 The local press 192 Nottingham’s organisations – war work and collaboration 199 The continuing momentum of feminism 208 War heroines and active citizens 215 A space for female culture 227 CHAPTER FIVE: WOMEN, FEMINISM AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE 1950s AND 1960s 233 Women in 1950s and 1960s Britain 235 National organisations and campaigning issues 244 Nottingham in the decades after the war 256 The local press – finding a local voice 260 Nottingham’s organisations – proliferation and co-operation 271 iv Equality feminism – continuity and change 282 The dominance of citizenship 287 The social dimension 295 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION 302 BIBLIOGRAPHY 320 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Professor Helen Meller for her assistance with the framing of my proposal and her input into the initial stages of this study. Without my current supervisor Professor Elizabeth Harvey, however, it is unlikely that the study would have reached completion and for her generosity and patience I am indebted. I am very grateful to the staff of the Local Studies Library at Angel Row, Nottingham – especially for their technical help with microfiche readers, and to the staff at the Hallward Library, University of Nottingham. I am also grateful for the patience of all the staff at Nottinghamshire archives for their willingness to spend hours digging out obscure pieces of paper in case they were relevant for my needs. I would like to thank Mrs Roma Parlby for agreeing to meet with me and sharing the stories of her mother’s work in Newark WVS during the war. I would like to acknowledge the Trustees of the Mass Observation Archive based at the University of Sussex, for the use of and reproduction of Mass Observation material. I would like to thank my students for their interest and enthusiasm in “Miss becoming a doctor” and the many of my friends and family who have encouraged me. Overall, however, I need to thank my husband Mark for his endless patience with the disruption my work has caused to family life, his unwavering love and encouragement, and his unerring faith in my ability to complete it. It is because of him, and the desire to make Megan and little Alex proud, that I am able to present this study. vi ABBREVIATIONS EAW Electrical Association for Women NCW National Council of Women NFWI National Federation of Women’s Institutes NSCWO Nottingham Standing Conference of Women’s Organisations TWG Townswomen’s Guilds WI Women’s Institute WVS Women’s Voluntary Service vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION The Edwardian suffrage campaign and the re-emergence of a vocal and organised feminist movement in the late 1960s and 1970s have long been recognised as periods when some women organised themselves and campaigned passionately for equality of rights and opportunities, yet the years in between have sometimes been written off as a period of stasis or even decline in the history of organised women in Britain. More recently, this view has been challenged by a number of studies which have contributed to a deeper and more nuanced picture of women’s activism during the mid twentieth century and have begun to highlight the continuities which have existed even in periods of “decline”. This study will build on that literature by arguing that many women were involved in many different campaigns to improve the day-to-day lives of women throughout the whole of the twentieth century, through membership of local organisations and local branches of national organisations. The study will argue that the activities of these local women’s organisations need to be analysed both in terms of “feminism” and with regard to the notion of “citizenship”. Throughout the twentieth century local women in a range of organisations voiced demands that can be described as explicitly feminist, confronting issues of inequality and male privilege and working to achieve equal rights and economic opportunities for women. The continuity of these aspirations and demands, particularly where married women were concerned, were consistently seen by some to be threatening to family life and social order, and regularly evoked hostile reactions from the letter columns of 1 the local press. Yet such hostility did not work to quash the demands in the mid years of the twentieth century. More broadly, by engaging in a range of local causes, women were also working towards the long-term feminist goal of promoting female citizenship. Frequently the same women in the same organisations also engaged in other campaigns, both national and local, ranging from welfare reform to better sports facilities for local women, combining a concern for improving the lives of women that was often labelled “new” or “welfare feminist” with a concern for bettering the community at large. These wider interests can be seen as working towards developing a greater understanding of women’s role as active citizens. “Citizenship” was a term widely used in this period and was one that could be claimed by both feminists and those whose sole focus was to promote women’s involvement in public life. While equal citizenship was the fundamental basis of a feminist ideology, the concept also appealed to a wider constituency of women, many of whom chose to reject the more controversial connotations of “feminism” throughout the century. Even organisations whose campaigning role was modest and whose challenge to the prevailing gender norms was at best muted could claim to be promoting female citizenship by providing opportunities for female sociability and civic education – opportunities that may well have been empowering for members unused to a public voice of any sort. In addition, the opportunities provided by such organisations for single-sex sociability can also be 2 seen as empowering, even of many individuals engaged with these opportunities to a much greater extent than campaigning. The study will also attempt to explore the extent to which local activity and organisation were vital factor in the development of feminist agendas and to the achievement of equality of opportunity. Many studies of twentieth century women have examined and analysed national patterns of behaviour, yet the local picture is often ignored. If the national picture is to be analysed, and perhaps challenged, the local perspective is necessary. Without a local insight it is impossible to examine the impact of organisations and their concerns on their branches and individual members. Without this awareness it is difficult to make any generalisations about the strength of a feminist “movement” and the enthusiasm for citizenship gains of the women of Britain between 1918 and 1970.