Women's Organisations, Active Citizenship and the Peace Movement: New Perspectives on Peace Activism in Britain 1918 to 1939

Book chapter

Beaumont, C. (2022). Women's Organisations, Active Citizenship and the Peace Movement: New Perspectives on Peace Activism in Britain 1918 to 1939. in: Gottlieb, J.V. and Gaynor Johnson (ed.) Gendering Peace in Europe c. 1880-2000 Routledge.
AuthorsBeaumont, C.
EditorsGottlieb, J.V. and Gaynor Johnson
Abstract

The history of women’s engagement in the interwar peace
movement has focused primarily on feminist pacifists, individuals who participated in both the women’s suffrage movement and the peace movement. Much less attention has been given to the peace activism of voluntary women’s groups that did not self-identify as feminist but which were equally committed to preserving peace. This analysis explores the contribution of three women’s organisations – the National Council of
Women, the Women’s Institutes, and the Young Women’s
Christian Association – to the interwar peace movement. Their involvement not only reveals the extent of their anti-war activism but calls into question long-held assumptions about what motivated women to engage in the campaign for peace. This re-evaluation provides new insights into the varied reasons why women wanted peace and challenges the belief that anti-war activism weakened the women’s movement during the interwar years.

KeywordsPeace Movement; Women's Movement; Social Movements; Female Activism; Interwar Years
Year2022
Book titleGendering Peace in Europe c. 1880-2000
PublisherRoutledge
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License
File Access Level
Open
ISBNHBK 978-1-032-22724-5
PBK 978-1-032-22725-2
eBook 978-1-003-27389-9
Publication dates
Print2022
Publication process dates
Accepted04 Oct 2021
Deposited26 Oct 2021
Additional information

This chapter is identical to the 'gold' OA article published in the journal Diplomacy and Statecraft (2020), already listed in my list of publications.

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https://openresearch.lsbu.ac.uk/item/8y17y

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