The March of the Women

A Revisionist Analysis of the Campaign for Women's Suffrage, 1866-1914

Martin Pugh author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

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The March of the Women cover

This book is the first comprehensive analysis of the campaign for women's suffrage to appear for over thirty years. It challenges the conventional chronology of the subject by arguing that the Victorian suffragists did not undergo a decline during the 1890s but, on the contrary, had effectively won the argument about votes for women by 1900. This view is supported by evidence of the ineffectiveness of Anti-Suffragism, and especially the difficulties it encountered in trying to reconcile female Antis, who were often feminists, with male Antis, who opposed all forms of emancipation. The author adds a new dimension to the argument by discussing the beneficial impact on the British campaign of women's enfranchisement in New Zealand in 1893, and in Australia in 1902; and he shows how crucial to the shift towards suffragist support in parliament were Conservative moves in favour of suffragism in the 1890s. The March of the Women also offers a fresh evaluation of the Edwardian militant campaign. At grass roots level divisions over tactics mattered less than among the London leadership, and suffragette groups were less rigidly divided. It places the Pankhursts and the WSPU in a fresh light by examining their success in raising funds and in tapping the support of the British Establishment, at the same time attacking it and its values; while at the other end of the spectrum non-militants were making an important contribution to the cause by capitalising on working-class and Labour support for women's suffrage.

The questions posed and conclusions reached in this important work should enjoin historians to impose a more critical standard to both existing and future scholarship ... Pugh's remarkable essay will produce an extensive and necessary revision of the basic interpretations and overall understanding of the women's suffrage movement. * Contemporary British History *
Martin Pugh has not only produced a 'revisionist analysis of the campaign for women's suffrage' but also the most important and provocative examination of the suffrage movement in 30 years. The March of the Women establishes new benchmarks and sets out new barriers that all future scholarship concerning women's suffrage must be able to address and satisfy. * Contemporary British History *
This welcome synoptic account of the campaign for women's suffrage between the 1860s and the first world war skillfully blends a sustained engagement with recent scholarship and extensive primary research ... an impressive work which does much to clarify our understanding of the position of the suffrage issue with late Victorian and Edwardian politics. * Parliamentary History *
The particular value of this book is that Martin Pugh grounds his study in a much wider conception of politics than many comparable works. His analysis of parliamentary tactics and the role of women in local government is exemplary. Just as useful is his work on the suffragists' involvement in by-election campaigns. But this lengthy sub-section will not be the main focus of most readers' attention. For many, it will be Pugh's boldly revisionist chronology that makes this book worthwhile. * English Historical Review *
This is a major contribution to the subject, and one that will influence the terms of debate for many years to come. It is an unabashedly revisionist study, which uses new insights, new research and new analysis to overturn the traditional account of the suffrage movement. * English Historical Review *
Pugh brings to the story four essential qualities: a round understanding of the British political structure and how it has evolved; a rich grounding in the archives and secondary sources; a full awareness that here the distinction between social and political history is important; and above all, the historian's fair-minded determination to see things as contempories saw them, without hindsight, wishful thinking or preaching. * Brian Harrison, Times Literary Supplement *

ISBN: 9780198207757

Dimensions: 242mm x 162mm x 22mm

Weight: 1g

316 pages