British Feminism(s) from the Enlightenment until Today

Vocabulary flashcards summarising key terms, figures, texts, and concepts from the lecture on the history of modern British feminism.

Feminism

A movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression (bell hooks).

Feminisms

Recognition that feminism exists in multiple strands and approaches rather than a single unified doctrine.

Coverture

Common-law doctrine whereby a married woman’s legal identity was absorbed into her husband’s, denying her property and contractual rights.

Mary Astell (1666–1731)

Early English feminist writer who questioned women’s subordination, author of A Serious Proposal to the Ladies and Some Reflections Upon Marriage.

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)

Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, argued for women’s rational education and social equality.

Jane Austen (1775–1817)

Novelist whose works, such as Pride and Prejudice, subtly critique gender and class expectations.

Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855)

Author of Jane Eyre, challenged Victorian gender roles and voiced female desire for autonomy.

Bertha Mason

‘Madwoman in the attic’ in Jane Eyre, interpreted as Jane’s dark double and symbol of repressed female rage (Gilbert & Gubar).

Literary Paternity

Critical term describing how Western culture likens authorship to male generative power (pen = penis).

The Angel in the House

Coventry Patmore’s 1854 poem idealising the self-sacrificing, docile Victorian woman.

John Stuart Mill (1806–1873)

Philosopher who argued for legal and social equality of the sexes in The Subjection of Women.

Harriet Taylor Mill (1807–1858)

Collaborator with J. S. Mill; authored "The Enfranchisement of Women" advocating female suffrage.

Matrimonial Causes Act 1857

Allowed limited divorce and let legally separated wives keep their earnings.

Married Women’s Property Acts (1870 & 1882)

Legislation granting married women control over earnings and property, effectively ending coverture.

The New Woman

Late-Victorian cultural figure symbolising independent, educated women challenging gender norms.

National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS)

Non-militant suffragist organisation led by Millicent Fawcett from 1897.

Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU)

Militant suffragette organisation founded by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903.

Suffragist

Campaigner for women’s voting rights using constitutional and non-violent methods.

Suffragette

Militant activist for women’s suffrage employing direct action and civil disobedience.

Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928)

Leader of the WSPU, central figure in Britain’s militant suffrage movement.

Millicent Fawcett (1847–1929)

President of the NUWSS; championed peaceful methods to secure women’s vote.

Representation of the People Act 1918

Granted voting rights to women over 30 who met property qualifications.

Representation of the People Act 1928

Extended equal voting rights to all women aged 21 and over.

World War I ‘Canary Girls’

Nickname for munitions workers whose skin yellowed from TNT exposure; exemplified women’s industrial war labour.

Women’s Land Army

Organisation employing women in agriculture during both World Wars.

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)

Modernist writer who argued women need ‘a room of one’s own’ and income to create literature.

A Room of One’s Own (1929)

Woolf’s extended essay linking women’s financial independence to creative freedom.

Equality Feminism

Strand seeking identical legal and political rights for women and men.

Difference Feminism

Strand valuing women’s distinct experiences and advocating recognition of sex-specific needs.

Radical Feminism

Movement aiming to dismantle patriarchal structures at their root.

Intersectionality

Analytical framework showing how overlapping identities shape experiences of oppression (Kimberlé Crenshaw).

Kimberlé Crenshaw (b. 1959)

Legal scholar who coined ‘intersectionality’ to explain compounded discrimination.

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (b. 1942)

Postcolonial theorist linking feminism to critiques of imperialism; author of ‘Three Women’s Texts and a Critique of Imperialism.’

Postcolonial Feminism

Approach examining how colonial histories affect gender and race oppression.

Jean Rhys (1890–1979)

Author of Wide Sargasso Sea, giving voice to the silenced Caribbean ‘madwoman’ from Jane Eyre.

Wide Sargasso Sea (1966)

Rhys’s novel retelling Bertha Mason’s story, critiquing colonial and patriarchal oppression.

Poly Styrene (1957–2011)

Front-woman of punk band X-Ray Spex; lyrics attacked consumerism and gender stereotypes.

Punk DIY Ethos

Punk principle encouraging self-production and empowerment: ‘This is a chord, now form a band.’

‘Oh Bondage Up Yours!’

X-Ray Spex anthem rejecting female subservience and societal restraints.

Cyberfeminism

Feminist perspective exploring gender, technology, and digital spaces.

Second-Wave Feminism

1960s–1980s movement focusing on workplace equality, sexuality, and reproductive rights.

Third-Wave Feminism

1990s movement embracing diversity, intersectionality, and individual agency.

Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)

French existentialist whose work The Second Sex inspired modern feminist thought.

‘Madwoman in the Attic’ (Gilbert & Gubar)

Metaphor for women writers’ repressed rage under patriarchy, named after Bertha Mason.

Coventry Patmore

Victorian poet who idealised female domesticity in The Angel in the House.

Pens and Penises

Gilbert & Gubar’s phrase equating male authorship with patriarchal power.

DIY Feminist Punk Zine

Self-published booklet spreading feminist ideas within punk subculture.