GFRN seminar: Vernacular Discourses of Gender Equality in the Postwar British Working Class

This paper examines oral history interviews with 100 working-class women born in mid-twentieth century Britain, to trace the development of a vernacular discourse of gender equality which impacted profoundly on working-class women’s sense of self, relationships within the family, and orientation to paid work. The interviews were undertaken as part of a project examining women’s experiences in the miners’ strike of 1984-5, and questions about feminism, gender, and the impact of the strike on gender roles were central to the project. While the majority of our interviewees did not identify as feminists, they nevertheless almost all asserted their belief in the principle of gender equality.

The authors map the precise nature of this discourse of gender equality, showing that rather than drawing on feminist ideology, the interviewees were far more likely to turn to socialism or trade unionism, to a discourse of individualism, individual fulfilment and self-confidence deriving from the psy-sciences, and to the language of human rights to justify the equality of men and women. The authors argue that it is to these relatively neglected sources that we must look to explain the progress of belief in gender equality, and the nature of the dominant vernacular discourse of gender equality found among working-class women today.

All welcome but please register to attend. This event is organised by the UCL Gender and Feminism Research Network, part of the Institute of Advanced Studies.