Against the tide: the anti-war arguments of the British suffragists during the first world war

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1989
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Abstract
The First World War challenged the assumption of pacifism among British suffragists and forced them to choose between a number of responses to the war. The militant suffragettes became jingoistic supporters of the war effort. Millicent Garrett Fawcett called suffragists to dutiful service to their nation in its time of need. But some suffragist leaders stood against the tide of public opinion, opposed the war and worked for peace. The specifically feminist arguments they made against war were rooted in pre-war suffrage arguments: the anti-physical force arguments and the motherhood arguments. The feminist pacifists accepted the idea that women were unable to use physical force because they were naturally oriented toward the preservation of life. They rejected the argument that this disqualified them from political participation. Instead, they criticised the political order and proposed an alternative based on the nurturant values they associated with motherhood. They argued that the inclusion of women in the political process was necessary for the establishment of a better society and lasting peace.
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Bibliography: p. 108-112.
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Citation
Pollock, C. R. (1989). Against the tide: the anti-war arguments of the British suffragists during the first world war (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/21149
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