Rethinking Right-Wing Women explores the institutional structures for
and the representations, mobilisation, and the political careers of
women in the British Conservative Party since the late 19th century.
From the Primrose League (est.1883) to Women2Win (est.2005), the party
has exploited women's political commitment and their social power from
the grass-roots to the heights of the establishment. Yet, although it is
the party that extended the equal franchise, had the first woman MP to
sit Parliament, and produced the first two women Prime Ministers, the UK
Conservative Party has developed political roles for women that jar
with feminist and progressive agendas. Conservative women have tended to
be more concerned about the fulfilment of women's duties than the
realisation of women's rights. This book tackles the ambivalences
between women's politicisation and women's emancipation in the history
of Britain's most electorally successful and hegemonic political party.
Rethinking Right-Wing Women explores the institutional structures for
and the representations, mobilisation, and the political careers of
women in the British Conservative Party since the late 19th century.
From the Primrose League (est.1883) to Women2Win (est.2005), the party
has exploited women's political commitment and their social power from
the grass-roots to the heights of the establishment. Yet, although it is
the party that extended the equal franchise, had the first woman MP to
sit Parliament, and produced the first two women Prime Ministers, the UK
Conservative Party has developed political roles for women that jar
with feminist and progressive agendas. Conservative women have tended to
be more concerned about the fulfilment of women's duties than the
realisation of women's rights. This book tackles the ambivalences
between women's politicisation and women's emancipation in the history
of Britain's most electorally successful and hegemonic political party.
