ABSTRACT
Feminists in the 1930s belonged to a number of organizations, including different political parties, and there was no one central focus of thought and activity. Neither was there any one single Fascist view of women. The Fascist view as understood by the women in this study focused on the returning of women to the home, the controlling of the populace by propaganda which highlights the position of a leader, and the glorification of militarism. Many feminists of the period understood that behind those policies and practices lay a deep fear and even hatred of women-part of a general anti-feminist reaction which was itself part of a wider mood of despair. In the last weekly issue, on 2 October 1931, of The Woman’s Leader (the successor to The Common Cause, the journal of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies), ‘Crossbench’ forecast an election, but despaired of the ability of Parliament to cope with the crisis and concluded with the view that the objects which the paper ‘was founded to establish are not yet completely restored, and they will need a faithful guardian during the dark and difficult years that lie ahead’.
