Tag Archives: Politics and Suffrage
The Married Women’s Property Acts (UK, 1870, 1882 and 1893)
By Claire Jones These acts were a milestone along women’s route to equality. The legal position of married women for most of the nineteenth century was little short of that of a slave. (This was the way in which philosopher
Prostitution and the Contagious Diseases Acts (1864, 1866 and 1869)
By Claire Jones Overview The passing of the Contagious Diseases Acts, which stripped poor and working-class women of their rights, shocked many respectable middle class women and provoked a major campaign for repeal. The Acts were a legal embodiment of
A brief history of feminism
By Claire Jones Many people think of feminism as beginning with the women’s movement of the 1970s, but feminism was around even before bras had been invented - let alone burned. Women scholars were arguing for a fairer deal for
Davies and Davison
Is commemoration a matter of deeds versus words? The famous tragic incident when suffragette Emily Davison fatally threw herself in front of the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby, 1913, remains engraved on the public’s memory. Indeed, many of you
Suffragists and Suffragettes
An overview of the Votes for Women campaign By Claire Jones Introduction Before the 1832 Reform Act most men and all women did not have the vote. This act created a wider franchise but used the term ‘male person’, specifically
