Uhura's Mazda - Leaders of the House of Women
Uhura's Mazda
Banned
Leaders of the House of Women
1929-1931: Sylvia Pankhurst (Labour-British Section of the Third International coalition with support from the Liberals and Equal Citizenship)
1929 def: Christabel Pankhurst (Women's Party), Eleanor Rathbone (Equal Citizenship), Princess Sophia Duleep Singh (Women's Tax Resistance League)
1931-1933: Eleanor Rathbone (National Government: Equal Citizenship)
1931 def: Christabel Pankhurst (National Government: Women's Party), Sylvia Pankhurst (British Section of the Third International), Adela Pankhurst (Ladies' Fascist League)
1933-1940: Christabel Pankhurst (National Government: Women's Party)
1935 def: Sylvia Pankhurst (British Section of the Third International), Vera Woodhouse, Lady Terrington (Equal Citizenship), Adela Pankhurst and Diana Mitford (Ladies' Fascist League)
1940-1945: Christabel Pankhurst (War Government: Women's Party)
1945-1950: Ellen Wilkinson (Labour-British Section of the Third International coalition)
1945 def: Christabel Pankhurst (Women's Party), Megan Lloyd-George (Equal Citizenship)
Well, then.
Part of the implementation of the 1928 Act which equalised the suffrage rights of men and women in the United Kingdom was the splitting of the House of Commons into the House of Men and the House of Women. This was done in order to guarantee that half of all MPs would be women, and was hailed by many (and criticised by many more) as being well ahead of its time. However, because this is the Tories we're talking about, the Prime Minister was explicitly to be a member of the House of Men and bills could only be introduced in the Men. A law could only be passed if a majority of all voting MPs supported it, which fortunately removed the awkwardness of American-style gridlock. There were around 300 constituencies, each electing a male MP by First Past the Post, and a female MP by the same system - voters were split by gender.
There were three main parties, initially. First were the Women's Party, an outgrowth of the Suffragette movement which was largely affiliated with the Conservatives due to Christabel Pankhurst's antipathy towards Socialism. As it turned out, this party won a majority of seats in every election held for the House of Women, while Labour usually won a larger amount of seats in the Men than they would otherwise have won. These Labour seats in the Men allowed situations like 1929 and 1945, where a coalition between Labour and the Sectionists was possible.
The British Section of the Third International was the successor organisation of the East London Federation of Suffragettes, which Sylvia Pankhurst had disaffiliated from her mother's organisation just before the First World War, due to Sylvia's attitude that equality for women could only be achieved through simultaneous action to equalise society in a more general way. They were the most successful Communist Party ever to exist in Britain, although they were rather moderate in outlook and more interested in social issues than in economics. The BSTI was able to work with the Labour Party very easily, although never in a National or War Government.
Finally, the National Union for Equal Citizenship was the successor Party of the original Suffragists, and was largely in alliance with one faction or another of the Liberal Party. However, they never won more than 97 seats and Eleanor Rathbone was only made Leader of the House of Women because the Tories in the National Government were intimidated by Christabel Pankhurst. They split from the National Government in 1933 over the Kollontai Crisis. Other minor parties included the proto-Randian Women's Tax Resistance League, and the depressingly numerous Ladies' Fascist League, led by the third Pankhurst sister.
It is difficult to measure the influence of the female MPs during this period, for even though they often constituted the majority of a Government, they were never in a majority in Cabinet. Due to inexperience and historic lack of education, measures to legalise abortion, reform divorce law, and remove stigma for single mothers all failed, and the House of Women was increasingly seen as a wasteful secondary chamber.
Finally, after 1945, there was a Government which united the attitudes of radical feminists (that women should be judged on their own merits) and working-class chauvinists (that women should be judged on their own merits) and the House of Commons was reconstituted for the 1950 general election. Never again has half of the legislature been female, but the idea of going back to such a system does not tend to appeal to many women today.
1929-1931: Sylvia Pankhurst (Labour-British Section of the Third International coalition with support from the Liberals and Equal Citizenship)
1929 def: Christabel Pankhurst (Women's Party), Eleanor Rathbone (Equal Citizenship), Princess Sophia Duleep Singh (Women's Tax Resistance League)
1931-1933: Eleanor Rathbone (National Government: Equal Citizenship)
1931 def: Christabel Pankhurst (National Government: Women's Party), Sylvia Pankhurst (British Section of the Third International), Adela Pankhurst (Ladies' Fascist League)
1933-1940: Christabel Pankhurst (National Government: Women's Party)
1935 def: Sylvia Pankhurst (British Section of the Third International), Vera Woodhouse, Lady Terrington (Equal Citizenship), Adela Pankhurst and Diana Mitford (Ladies' Fascist League)
1940-1945: Christabel Pankhurst (War Government: Women's Party)
1945-1950: Ellen Wilkinson (Labour-British Section of the Third International coalition)
1945 def: Christabel Pankhurst (Women's Party), Megan Lloyd-George (Equal Citizenship)
Well, then.
Part of the implementation of the 1928 Act which equalised the suffrage rights of men and women in the United Kingdom was the splitting of the House of Commons into the House of Men and the House of Women. This was done in order to guarantee that half of all MPs would be women, and was hailed by many (and criticised by many more) as being well ahead of its time. However, because this is the Tories we're talking about, the Prime Minister was explicitly to be a member of the House of Men and bills could only be introduced in the Men. A law could only be passed if a majority of all voting MPs supported it, which fortunately removed the awkwardness of American-style gridlock. There were around 300 constituencies, each electing a male MP by First Past the Post, and a female MP by the same system - voters were split by gender.
There were three main parties, initially. First were the Women's Party, an outgrowth of the Suffragette movement which was largely affiliated with the Conservatives due to Christabel Pankhurst's antipathy towards Socialism. As it turned out, this party won a majority of seats in every election held for the House of Women, while Labour usually won a larger amount of seats in the Men than they would otherwise have won. These Labour seats in the Men allowed situations like 1929 and 1945, where a coalition between Labour and the Sectionists was possible.
The British Section of the Third International was the successor organisation of the East London Federation of Suffragettes, which Sylvia Pankhurst had disaffiliated from her mother's organisation just before the First World War, due to Sylvia's attitude that equality for women could only be achieved through simultaneous action to equalise society in a more general way. They were the most successful Communist Party ever to exist in Britain, although they were rather moderate in outlook and more interested in social issues than in economics. The BSTI was able to work with the Labour Party very easily, although never in a National or War Government.
Finally, the National Union for Equal Citizenship was the successor Party of the original Suffragists, and was largely in alliance with one faction or another of the Liberal Party. However, they never won more than 97 seats and Eleanor Rathbone was only made Leader of the House of Women because the Tories in the National Government were intimidated by Christabel Pankhurst. They split from the National Government in 1933 over the Kollontai Crisis. Other minor parties included the proto-Randian Women's Tax Resistance League, and the depressingly numerous Ladies' Fascist League, led by the third Pankhurst sister.
It is difficult to measure the influence of the female MPs during this period, for even though they often constituted the majority of a Government, they were never in a majority in Cabinet. Due to inexperience and historic lack of education, measures to legalise abortion, reform divorce law, and remove stigma for single mothers all failed, and the House of Women was increasingly seen as a wasteful secondary chamber.
Finally, after 1945, there was a Government which united the attitudes of radical feminists (that women should be judged on their own merits) and working-class chauvinists (that women should be judged on their own merits) and the House of Commons was reconstituted for the 1950 general election. Never again has half of the legislature been female, but the idea of going back to such a system does not tend to appeal to many women today.