The Responsibility of Women: Women’s Anti-War Writing in the Press, 1914–16

Up until the introduction of conscription in 1916 when the conscientious objector became a significant figure in British wartime society, the responsibility of publicly opposing the war was seen to fall on the shoulders of women. Within this context, the most prominent socialist anti-war newspapers of the period, the Herald and the Labour Leader, became conduits for anti-war women to formulate and express their opposition to the war. By examining women’s writing in these two newspapers, this article argues that gender was central to how anti-war women articulated their view on the conflict. However, gender, and specifically femininity, was invoked in competing and often contradictory ways, and women anti-war writers critically engaged with each other in their consideration of the relationship between women and peace.