ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that the sojourn of Englishwomen in the empire writes a crucial chapter in the history of the formations that know as Western feminism. It argues that the colonial occupation of the Indian subcontinent established one of the primary arenas in which the Englishwoman first achieved the kind of authoritative self associated with the modern female subject. The chapter assesses the impact of imperialism on issues pertinent to Englishwomen's emancipation. It also argues that the modern individual woman was first and foremost an imperialist. Englishwomen in the British empire in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century serve as a useful and example of such excursions outside the home. The establishment of English homes in the colonies increased the avenues through which Englishwomen could directly contribute to the national enterprise of imperialism as well as earn recognition for their labor.
