Citizens and Activists: A survey of the historical records of the Women Citizens’ Associations and their Research Potential

Smith, Joanne (2016) Citizens and Activists: A survey of the historical records of the Women Citizens’ Associations and their Research Potential. Archives: Journal of the British Records Association, 40 (128-9). ISSN 0003-9535

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Abstract

After the partial franchise was granted to women in 1918 some historians have claimed that the British women’s movement largely went in to decline, its resurgence not evident for some decades later. This narrative has been challenged by feminists and scholars of women’s history, who have demonstrated the ways in which women chose to continue their political activities once in possession of the parliamentary franchise following the Representation of the People Act 1918. Largely through a growing number of local case studies and comparative analyses we now have a much more comprehensive understanding of the direction taken by the women’s movement after the end of the First War One. Nevertheless, more detailed accounts are needed to assess the development of specific non-party political women’s organisations such as the Women Citizen’s Associations (WCAs) which operated throughout the twentieth century.