The Place of the Great War in the History of British Feminism

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The Place of the Great War in the History of
British Feminism

• Marc Calvini-Lefebvre
• Goldsmiths College

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Introduction A Paradoxical Place

• Milestone
• Desert
• Two Questions

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I. Explaining the Great Wars Place in the
History of the Feminist Movement

• Feminist Imaginary
• Suffragettes
• Four Icons

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1.2 The Vote

• Reward...
• ... Or bribe?

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1.3 The Home Front

• Living feminism...
• ... Or resilient patriarchy?

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1.4 The Fall

• Environmental Causes
• Ideological Causes

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1.5 The Hague

• From Greenham to The Hague
• Inspirational foremothers...
• ... Or dangerous essentialists?

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II. Explaining the Great Wars Absence from
histories of feminist thinking

• Feminism as developing body of thought
• Two striking features
• Scarcity
• War? What War?

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2.1 The Best Explanation

• Different histories, different chronologies
• A neat fit

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2.2 Four Objections

• Implausibility
• Militarism versus Feminism
• Suffrage discourse
• Gendering Patriotism (Jacqueline de Vries)

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Conclusion Overcoming Paradox

• Parallel academic conversations
• Potential contributions
• Icons and impact
• British political discourse and feminist thought
• Connecting the dots

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Thank you

• m.lefebvre_at_gold.ac.uk
• http//homepages.gold.ac.uk/mcl