From Suffrage to Citizenship: The Cardiff and District Women Citizens Association in comparative perspective 1921-1939

Smith, J (2015) From Suffrage to Citizenship: The Cardiff and District Women Citizens Association in comparative perspective 1921-1939. Llafur, 11 (4). pp. 26-41. ISSN 0306-0837

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Abstract

The interwar era marked a new stage in women’s participation in public life. The suffrage movement which had campaigned for over sixty years for votes for women achieved some success with the Passing of the Representation of the People Act in 1918. In light of this, new and refocused organisations of women voters were formed and this included Women Citizen Associations (WCAs). These non-party organisations sought to empower and enhance women’s status as citizens by campaigning for equal rights in the workplace, equal franchise, through educating women in citizenship and on an array of other issues which would improve the socio-economic and political position of women. An assessment of the campaigns and activities of the Cardiff and District Women Citizens Association (CDWCA) in comparative perspective with WCAs in other locations across Britain provides a fresh way in which to examine Welsh women’s non-party political activism in the interwar period.