Feminist historiography has generally focused on middle-class women and formal
organisations taking the view the World War I heralded the decline of the feminist movement
and thereby any forms of feminist activity in Britain. This thesis,by investigating Clydeside
women's experiences between the wars, subverts that approach.It offers a wider interpretation of feminist aims,objectives, and activities by examining the premise that' sexual
antagonism' can shape 'sexual solidarity', providing a conduct for the operation of 'a rough kind of feminism'.
During the inter-war years attempts were made, through discourse,to reformulate traditional gender identities. The proposed vision of womanhood sought to re-situate females
in the 'private sphere' as exulted progenitors and guardians of the race. Correspondingly,
these women were to be provided for, and protected by the 'new man' who would love and
respect his wife, whilst recognising that their roles,although different should be equal in
status. A response to the potential liberation of women after World War 1 ,concerns over the quality and quantity of the British race and the ruptures wrought by war,this world view was
to permeate society. Despite the persuasiveness of this discourse, however,these ideals were not generally compatible with the extra-discursive realities and imaginative boundaries
of working-class life between the wars on Clydeside and more so those of men. The proposed 'new men' of the Clyde faced extreme social, economic, and political transformations
which impeded their subjectification of the ideal.In turn, this contributed to the extreme
gender antagonism faced by women in the worlds of work,politics, community, and play and in their relations with men.
Women's responses were complex and contradictory. Although they were divided
materially and ideologically, sexual antagonism provided a basis for coalition on specific
issues which affected these women as a group. Working-class women countered their
potential for powerlessness formally and informally in a variety of ways.They formed gender-specific work-cultures, they exploited the dominant gender discourse of this period,they used
kin and community networks, they combined to take advantage of community organisations
and they used defiance as strategies to challenge male domination. Whilst these same forces
could also create class and gender divisions amongst women, nevertheless, sexual antagonism on Clydeside acted as a catalyst for behaviour identifiable as a' rough kind of
feminism'.Feminist historiography has generally focused on middle-class women and formal
organisations taking the view the World War I heralded the decline of the feminist movement
and thereby any forms of feminist activity in Britain. This thesis,by investigating Clydeside
women's experiences between the wars, subverts that approach.It offers a wider interpretation of feminist aims,objectives, and activities by examining the premise that' sexual
antagonism' can shape 'sexual solidarity', providing a conduct for the operation of 'a rough kind of feminism'.
During the inter-war years attempts were made, through discourse,to reformulate traditional gender identities. The proposed vision of womanhood sought to re-situate females
in the 'private sphere' as exulted progenitors and guardians of the race. Correspondingly,
these women were to be provided for, and protected by the 'new man' who would love and
respect his wife, whilst recognising that their roles,although different should be equal in
status. A response to the potential liberation of women after World War 1 ,concerns over the quality and quantity of the British race and the ruptures wrought by war,this world view was
to permeate society. Despite the persuasiveness of this discourse, however,these ideals were not generally compatible with the extra-discursive realities and imaginative boundaries
of working-class life between the wars on Clydeside and more so those of men. The proposed 'new men' of the Clyde faced extreme social, economic, and political transformations
which impeded their subjectification of the ideal.In turn, this contributed to the extreme
gender antagonism faced by women in the worlds of work,politics, community, and play and in their relations with men.
Women's responses were complex and contradictory. Although they were divided
materially and ideologically, sexual antagonism provided a basis for coalition on specific
issues which affected these women as a group. Working-class women countered their
potential for powerlessness formally and informally in a variety of ways.They formed gender-specific work-cultures, they exploited the dominant gender discourse of this period,they used
kin and community networks, they combined to take advantage of community organisations
and they used defiance as strategies to challenge male domination. Whilst these same forces
could also create class and gender divisions amongst women, nevertheless, sexual antagonism on Clydeside acted as a catalyst for behaviour identifiable as a' rough kind of
feminism'
