An examination of the ways in which women challenged the British educational, employment and welfare systems after the franchise. Helen Jones explores how women adapted their strategies to confront the system from within, and what constraints were imposed on them. She also examines the active role that British women played in Continental Europe, and an important comparative chapter looks at the experience of women in France, Germany, Italy, Australia and the USA.

Focusing mainly on Britain, but offering comparisons with the experiences of women in other countries too, this study examines the impact of women campaigners and suffragettes on welfare and social policy formulation and implementation.

Although women are often seen as "hidden from history," this book unveils the personal experiences of the wives, mothers, and sisters of Victorian and Edwardian politicians. Drawing on rich new evidence from correspondence and diaries, Jalland examines the lives of women in more than fifty British political families, recounting their experiences of courtship, marriage, and childbirth and the vital domestic and political functions they performed. With its numerous case studies and intimate approach to women's lives, this book is a welcome complement to the better known public history of women and the women's movement.

Eglantyne Jebb was a teacher, social investigator and founder of the Save the Children Fund. Her 'Declaration of the Rights of the Child', adopted by League of Nations, shows evolution from Charity Organization Society model to philosophy of international mutual responsibility, children's rights and humanitarianism.

This volume examines the varieties of anti-fascism in inter-war Britain. Ordinarily anti-fascism is defined in terms of anti-fascist activism. By extending the scope of the concept, this book breaks new ground. Chapters examine political parties, the state, the media, women, the churches, and intellectuals.

The millennium has sharpened perspectives on the history of women in twentieth-century Britain. Many features of the contemporary gender order date only from the last decades of the century – the expectation of equal opportunities in education and the work-place, sexual autonomy for the individual and tolerance of a variety of family forms. The years dominated by the two World Wars saw real advances towards equal citizenship and legal rights, and a growing sense of the impact on women of 'modernity' in its various forms, including consumerism and the mass media. But values inherited from the Victorians were still reflected in the class hierarchy, the policing of sexuality and the male-breadwinner family. This anthology of original sources, accompanied by a state-of-the-art bibliography, illustrates patterns of continuity and change in women's experience and their place in national life. An introductory survey provides an accessible overview and analysis of controversial issues, such as the relationship between 'first', 'second' and 'third' wave feminism.