Women in Twentieth-Century Britain Social, Cultural and Political Change

Women's lives have changed dramatically over the course of the twentieth century: reduced fertility and the removal of formal barriers to their participation in education, work and public life are just some examples. At the same time, women are under-represented in many areas, are paid significantly less than men, continue to experience domestic violence and to bear the larger part of the burden in the domestic division of labour. Women in 2000 may have many more choices and opportunities than they had a hundred years ago, but genuine equality between men and women remains elusive. This unique, illustrated history discusses a wide range of topics organised into four parts: the life course - the experience of girlhood, marriage and the ageing process; the nature of women's work, both paid and unpaid; consumption, culture and transgression; and citizenship and the state.

1. Introduction. 2. Changing the Subject: Women's History and Historiography. PART ONE: THE LIFE COURSE. 3. Girlhood and Growing up. 4. Sexuality. 5. Marriage. 6. Health and Reproduction. 7. Ageing - Older Women. PART TWO: WORK - PAID AND UNPAID. 8. Education. 9. Family, Caring and Unpaid Work. 10. Housewifery
11. Paid Work. PART THREE: CULTURE, CONSUMPTION AND TRANSGRESSION. 12. The Body and Consumer Culture. 13. Crime. 14. Prostitution. 15. Leisure and Popular Culture. PART FOUR: THE STATE AND CITIZENSHIP. 16. The Women's Movement, Politics and Citizenship from the late nineteenth Century until 1918.
17. The Women's Movement, Politics and Citizenship, 1918-1950s. 18. The Women's Movement, Politics and Citizenship, 1960s-2000. 19. 'Race', Ethnicity and National Identity. 20. War and Peace. 21. The State and Social Policy.

• The only available thematic history of women in twentieth century Britain.
• Over 40 illustrations, many previously unpublished.
• 'In focus' case studies in every chapter illustrate the general arguments.