Grassroots feminism: a study of the campaign of the Society for the Provision of Birth Control Clinics, 1924-1938. A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities. Year of submission 2010 Clare Debenham School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities List of Contents List of Contents ................................................................................................................. 2 Declaration ........................................................................................................................ 6 Copyright statement .......................................................................................................... 6 List of Abbreviations......................................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... 8 Preface...............................................................................................................................9 Chapter One ...................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 10 1.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 10 1.2 Reassessment of the significance of the birth control campaign ...................... 11 1.3 Main research questions .................................................................................... 15 1.5 Studies of nineteen- twenties women‟s organisations .................................... 26 1.5 The perspective of social movement theory ...................................................... 27 1.6 Issues in research methodology ......................................................................... 33 1.8 Thesis outline .................................................................................................... 38 Chapter Two. ................................................................................................................... 47 Feminism in the nineteen-twenties: competing discourses and policy advocacy coalitions ..................................................................................................................... 47 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 47 2.2 Eleanor Rathbone, feminist tactician ................................................................ 49 2.3 Competing master frames of equal rights and new feminists ........................... 49 2.4 Campaigns involving feminist mobilisation .................................................... 57 2.5 Birth control initiating event ............................................................................. 61 2.7 Continuity between suffrage and birth controller campaigns ........................... 64 2.8 Political mobilisation and opportunity structures ............................................ 65 2.9 Policy advocacy coalitions ................................................................................ 68 2.10 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 74 Chapter Three .................................................................................................................. 82 Providing birth control for working class mothers: an investigation into the experiences of the SPBCC‟s local clinics. .................................................................. 82 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 82 3.2 Mobilisation of human and material resources ................................................. 83 3.3 Gendered decisions on family limitation ........................................................ 94 3.4 The SPBCC‟s criticism of traditional methods of family limitation and the framing of birth control as an alternative method ................................................... 96 3.5 Strategic framing by the SPBCC on clinic attendance .................................. 101 3.6 Was there a clash of cultures between volunteers and their clients? .............. 108 3.8 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 112 Chapter four .................................................................................................................. 121 Repertoires of contention: countering the opposition to the SPBCC from religious leaders and the medical establishment ...................................................................... 121 4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 121 4.2 Countering the religious opposition to birth control ....................................... 122 4.3 The SPBCC‟s conflict with the medical profession ........................................ 127 4.4 Repertoires of contention in local politics ..................................................... 134 4.5 Conclusion. ..................................................................................................... 139 Chapter Five. ................................................................................................................. 145 The SPBCC, feminists , neo-Malthusians and eugenicists : shifting ideologies. .... 145 5.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 145 5.2 Neo-Malthusians and feminists ...................................................................... 146 2 5.3 The relationship between eugenicists and feminists ...................................... 153 5.4 Female participation in the eugenics organisations ........................................ 157 5.5 Contrasting approaches by Stopes and Rathbone to eugenicists .................... 161 5.6 Proposed alliance of the Eugenic Society to the SPBCC .............................. 165 Chapter Six. ................................................................................................................... 174 The birth control campaign : testing new opportunity structures ............................. 174 6.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 174 6.2. Political party membership and birth control activism .................................. 174 6.3 Political mobilisation ...................................................................................... 176 6.4 Testing the new political opportunity structures ............................................ 178 6.4.1 Labour Party ................................................................................................. 178 6.4.2 The positions adopted by Phillips and Wilkinson on birth control. ............. 184 6.4.3 Women‟s Co-operative Guild and birth control .......................................... 188 6.4.4 The Liberal Party and birth control campaigns ............................................ 191 6.5 Policy advocacy coalitions ............................................................................. 193 6.6 Conclusion. ..................................................................................................... 197 Chapter Seven .............................................................................................................. 203 Lifecycle of a social movement .................................................................................... 203 7.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 203 7.2 Was Memorandum 153/ MCW a political victory for the birth controllers? ............................................................................................................................... 203 7.3 The transformation of the SPBCC .................................................................. 208 7.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 211 Chapter Eight ............................................................................................................... 215 Conclusion. ............................................................................................................... 215 APPENDIX I ................................................................................................................. 220 Collective biography of members of the Society for the Provision of Birth Control Clinics. ...................................................................................................................... 220 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 268 Body of Text Word Count = 81,699 3 Illustrations and tables Photo Downing Street Women‟s Co-operative Guild, 1930 ........................................... 90 Cartoon Scattered groups of enthusiasts build clinics..................................................... 93 Table 1 ........................................................................................................................... 101 Applicants