‘[A] stronger position as women alone’: women’s associations in the British civil service and feminism, 1900-1959

Glew, H. 2021. ‘[A] stronger position as women alone’: women’s associations in the British civil service and feminism, 1900-1959. Women's History Review. 30 (4), pp. 669-687. https://doi.org/10.1080/09612025.2020.1814511

Title‘[A] stronger position as women alone’: women’s associations in the British civil service and feminism, 1900-1959
TypeJournal article
AuthorsGlew, H.
Abstract

This article examines three successive organisations for women clerical workers in the Civil Service – the Association of Post Office Women Clerks (APOWC), the Federation of Women Civil Servants (FWCS) and the National Association of Women Civil Servants (NAWCS) – which explicitly identified as feminist and which pushed for the same conditions of employment for women as for men. In an era where a significant number of women’s trade unions and associations merged with male-dominated unions, the article explores the significance, politics, challenges and tactics of remaining ‘women alone’ and how the organisations and their members negotiated changing external perceptions of feminism and different generational understandings of the need for feminism. Finally, it offers a case study of the ways in which a women-only organisation based around a professional identity worked with the wider feminist movement for publicity, support and a sense of shared endeavour.

Keywordswomen
employment
British civil service
feminism
interwar
associations and trade unions
JournalWomen's History Review
Journal citation30 (4), pp. 669-687
ISSN0961-2025
Year2021
PublisherTaylor & Francis
Accepted author manuscript
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/09612025.2020.1814511
Publication dates
Published online18 Sep 2020
Published2021

Related outputs

A new phase of activism: women’s occupational organisations and married women’s paid work after the Second World War in Britain
Glew, H. 2024. A new phase of activism: women’s occupational organisations and married women’s paid work after the Second World War in Britain. Women's History Review. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09612025.2024.2373505

Embracing the language of human rights: international women’s organisations, feminism and campaigns against the marriage bar, c.1919-1960
Glew, H. 2023. Embracing the language of human rights: international women’s organisations, feminism and campaigns against the marriage bar, c.1919-1960. Gender & History. 35 (3), pp. 780-794. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0424.12705

Precarious Professionals: Gender, Identities and Social Change in Modern Britain Edited by Heidi Egginton and Zoë Thomas, London: University of London Press, 2021, pp. v‐332, ISBN 978‐1‐912702‐59‐6.
Glew, Helen 2023. Precarious Professionals: Gender, Identities and Social Change in Modern Britain Edited by Heidi Egginton and Zoë Thomas, London: University of London Press, 2021, pp. v‐332, ISBN 978‐1‐912702‐59‐6. Gender & History. 35 (3), pp. 1163-1164. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0424.12681

Book Review: Labour Women in Power: Cabinet Ministers in the Twentieth Century by Paula Bartley
Glew, Helen 2022. Book Review: Labour Women in Power: Cabinet Ministers in the Twentieth Century by Paula Bartley. Journal of Contemporary History. 58 (1), pp. 207-208. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220094221130400d

In a minority in male spaces: the networks, relationships and collaborations between women MPs and women civil servants, 1919-1955
Glew, H. 2020. In a minority in male spaces: the networks, relationships and collaborations between women MPs and women civil servants, 1919-1955. Open Library of Humanities. 6 (2), p. 15. https://doi.org/10.16995/olh.597

‘Maiden, whom we never see’ : cultural representations of the ‘lady telephonist’ in Britain, c.1880-1930, and institutional responses
Glew, Helen 2020. ‘Maiden, whom we never see’ : cultural representations of the ‘lady telephonist’ in Britain, c.1880-1930, and institutional responses. Information & Culture: A Journal of History. 55 (1), pp. 30-50. https://doi.org/10.7560/IC55103

Providing and Taking the Opportunity: Women Civil Servants and Feminist Periodical Culture in Interwar Britain
Glew, H. 2017. Providing and Taking the Opportunity: Women Civil Servants and Feminist Periodical Culture in Interwar Britain. in: Clay, Catherine, DiCenzo, Maria, Green, Barbara and Hackney, Fiona (ed.) Women's Periodicals and Print Culture in Britain, 1918-1939: the Interwar Period Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press.

Regulating Marriage: Gender, the Public Service, the Second World War and Reconstruction in Britain and Canada
Glew, H. 2017. Regulating Marriage: Gender, the Public Service, the Second World War and Reconstruction in Britain and Canada. in: Peniston-Bird, C. and Vickers, E. (ed.) Gender and the Second World War: Lessons of War London Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 88-100

The married woman worker in Chatelaine magazine, 1948-1964
Glew, H. 2016. The married woman worker in Chatelaine magazine, 1948-1964. in: Hawkins, S., Phillips, N., Ritchie, R. and Kleinberg, S.J. (ed.) Women in Magazines: Research, Representation, Production, and Consumption New York Routledge. pp. 137-147

Gender, Rhetoric and Regulation: women's work in the Civil Service and the London County Council, 1900-55
Glew, H. 2016. Gender, Rhetoric and Regulation: women's work in the Civil Service and the London County Council, 1900-55. Manchester Manchester University Press.

Introduction: ‘Women as Wives and Workers: Marking Fifty Years of The Feminine Mystique’ Special Issue
Ritchie, R., Glew, H., Hamlett, J., McEneaney, S. and Thomas, Z. 2015. Introduction: ‘Women as Wives and Workers: Marking Fifty Years of The Feminine Mystique’ Special Issue. History of Women in the Americas. 3, pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.14296/hwa.v3i0.2187

Educating Mind, Body and Spirit: The legacy of Quintin Hogg and the Polytechnic, 1864-1992
Glew, H., Gorst, A., Heller, M. and Matthews, N. Penn, E. (ed.) 2013. Educating Mind, Body and Spirit: The legacy of Quintin Hogg and the Polytechnic, 1864-1992. London University of Westminster.

Women at the polytechnic
Glew, H. 2013. Women at the polytechnic. in: Penn, E. (ed.) Educating mind, body and spirit: the legacy of Quintin Hogg and the polytechnic, 1864-1992 Cambridge Granta Editions.

Quintin Hogg and his legacy
Glew, H. 2013. Quintin Hogg and his legacy. in: Penn, E. (ed.) Educating mind, body and spirit: the legacy of Quintin Hogg and the polytechnic, 1864-1992 Cambridge Granta Editions.

Permalink - https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/v07z1/-a-stronger-position-as-women-alone-women-s-associations-in-the-british-civil-service-and-feminism-1900-1959


Share this

Usage statistics

125 total views
82 total downloads
These values cover views and downloads from WestminsterResearch and are for the period from September 2nd 2018, when this repository was created.