British women were deeply invested in foreign policy between the wars. This study casts new light on the turn to international affairs in feminist politics, the gendered representation and experience of the Munich Crisis, and the profound impression made by female public opinion on PM Neville Chamberlain in his negotiations with the dictators.

Drawing on a wide range of material, including primary sources, Frank McDonough re-examines the controversial policy of appeasement, and argues that appeasement was part of a broad consensus in British society at the time.

The British Fascisti, the first fascism movement in Britain, was founded by a woman in 1923. During the 1930s, 25 per cent of Sir Oswald Mosley's supporters were women, and his movement was 'largely built up by the fanaticism of women.' What was it about the British form of Fascism that accounted for this conspicuous female support? Gottlieb addresses these questions in the definitive work on women in fascism. This book continues to fill a significant gap in the historiography of British fascism, which has generally overlooked the contribution of women on the one hand, and the importance of sexual politics and women's issues on the other. Gottlieb's extensive research makes use of government documents, a large range of contemporary pamphlets, newspapers and speeches, as well as original interviews with those personally involved in the movement. This new edition includes a preface analysing the current affairs of the last 20 years, reframing the book according to contemporary context. Here, Gottlieb looks at the resurgence of populism, the rise of women as leaders of far-right parties across Europe and North America, and the normalisation of fascism in fiction and political discourse.

Cooling Out: Has the World Changed, or Have I Changed? -- Notes -- Index

How far did women support Oswald Mosley's Black Shirts? This reference aims to fill a significant gap in the historiography of British fascism, which has generally overlooked the contribution of the women's movement to Britain's fascist experience. Looking at female fascist activism and the influence of feminist ideology on the fascist agenda, Gottlieb shows the significant impact of feminist thought in this area. In spite of its mainstream vocal opposition to fascism, parts of the women's movement as Gottlieb demonstrates, had an implicit connection with the British Union of Fascists.

The first cross-disciplinary history of women's international thought, analysing leading international thinkers of the twentieth century.

This book serves as an introduction to the extraordinary diversity of women’s activism. Paula Bartley's original research is supported by a range of writing to provide a powerful impression of the actions taken by groups of women from across the social and political spectrum, making the book invaluable to both students and interested readers. These women set out to make a difference to their locality, their country and sometimes the world. The story of women’s activism embodies stimulating accounts of progress and reversals, of commitment and uncertainty, of competing rights and challenging wrongs. The story of women’s activism is not tidy or well-ordered. It is messy and unorthodox. And full of surprises.

Foreword by Dame Winifred Mary Beard. -------- This updated edition is a complete account of the first 100 years of women in Parliament. In 1919 Nancy Astor was elected as the Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton, becoming the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons. Her achievement was all the more remarkable given that women (and even then only some women) had only been entitled to vote for just over a year. In the past 100 years, a total of 491 women have been elected to Parliament. Yet it was not until 2016 that the total number of women ever elected surpassed the number of male MPs in a single parliament. The achievements of these political pioneers have been remarkable – Britain has now had two female Prime Ministers and women MPs have made significant strides in fighting for gender equality - from the earliest suffrage campaigns, to Barbara Castle's fight for equal pay, to Harriet Harman's recent legislation on the gender pay gap. Yet the stories of so many women MPs have too often been overlooked in political histories. In this book, Rachel Reeves brings forgotten MPs out of the shadows and looks at the many battles fought by the Women of Westminster, from 1919 to 2019.

Discusses the way leaders deal with risk in making foreign policy decisions

'I'm not a woman. I'm a Conservative.' Edwina Currie's startling claim is in sharp contrast with another Tory woman's view: she too was a Thatcher supporter but precisely because 'women are stronger than men and have a different approach'. The voices of 'iron ladies' like these ring out everywhere, trenchant, anxious, determined, dutiful. The issues that concern them - sex and morality, law and order, defence, education, the family - are widely thought to unite them. Yet is there a representative Tory women's view? Tracing back to the first women active in party politics, Beatrix Campbell describes how the female members of the Primrose League, established in 1883, canvassed and campaigned so vigorously for their men that they were often thought 'unwomanly'. And through the inter-war years to the present day they've continued to work tirelessly for a party at once dependent on their dedication and support yet resistant to their asserting a clear agenda for themselves within it. Theirs is a state of responsibility without power. It is this issue which lies at the heart of Beatrix Campbell's exploration of Tory Party women - living under a politics of paternalism which appears to give women and their concerns a central place but denies them the possibility of real change.