ABSTRACT
This chapter explores what seems to be a paradox: the revolutionary potential in the apparently conservative position of motherhood. From a revolutionary position of seeking equality with men, the Suffragettes slipped back into the discourse of the good soldier and warrior mother. The emphasis, then, is on the dismantling of the hierarchical opposition oppressor/oppressed in favour of plural and democratic access to power, to include not only working men and all women, but also small nations and all races. The argument that women know the cost of human life as they are responsible for bearing it forms the root of many of the writings on woman-centred pacifism. The political development of the women’s movement transforms women’s silence by enabling their maternal skills to become a political tool. Marshall uses it to stand for a motivating force, in combination with the political education that the women’s movement has provided.
