Mainstream feminism: the vote and after, 1880s–1939

Abstract

By the end of the nineteenth century, many of the demands made by earlier feminists had been met in both Britain and America. In particular, although opportunities were still far from equal, education for girls and women had expanded at all levels; this in turn generated a demand for teachers that gave middle-class women a new source of employment, as did the ‘typewriter revolution’ and the great expansion of office work that had taken place by the 1890s. However, improved education for women did not in itself challenge their traditional role in society, for the elementary education that was all most girls received stressed domestic skills rather than attempting to broaden their horizons, and the women’s colleges sought to produce educated wives and mothers rather than independent women. Similarly, new forms of employment did not necessarily mean female liberation, but frequently involved new forms of exploitation. Few women succeeded in the professions, and for most of those who entered paid work, economic independence meant bare survival rather than fulfilment; in general, new opportunities arose ‘less because of the demands of feminists … than in response to the needs of business, the professions and government for docile, well-educated and cheap labour’ (Rubinstein, 1986, p. x).