So that was International Women’s Day… by Dr Jacqui Turner

I am modern British History Lecturer at the University of Reading. I am broadly interested in C19th and early C20th parliamentary politics and political cultures including gender, early feminism and that heady mix of working class politics and religion. My existing research 'The soul of the Labour Movement' is a detailed examination of the Victorian morality and spirituality upon which the life of the Labour movement was built and includes the wider contribution of the women's movement, children's associations and radical literary traditions. My new book The Labour Church: Religion and Politics in the Early Twentieth Century will be published by I.B. Tauris in spring 2018. I plan to return to socialism and working class politics after 2020 to expand my existing research on Christian Socialist Women. My current research concerns early female pioneers in politics, focusing largely on female MPs between 1919 and 1931 primarily as 'sex-candidates'. I examine the contribution of early female MPs but also reassess the importance of the 1918 Representation of the People Act on British democracy, in relation to women and the emergence of female public politicians - I am particularly interested in Nancy Astor, who was the first female MP to sit in the House of Commons and whose papers are held at the University of Reading. View all posts by jacquiturnerblog