ABSTRACT

Women’s involvement in political activity from the early nineteenth century to the outbreak of the Second World War was extensive and varied. They engaged in general political and social reform campaigns as well as taking part in movements which focused on their own oppression as a sex and sought to challenge inequalities in all areas of their lives. No clear-cut distinction can be made between these two forms of political work. Campaigning on general questions often led women to take an interest in their own social position, while those already committed to a feminist perspective sought to influence the theory and practice of mainstream political parties and movements.1