Module Directory

This module will examine representations of independent women from the New Woman of the 1890s to the suffragette and the citizen in a range of writings, especially 'women's suffrage drama'. The effects of the British women's suffrage movement on cultural practices will be considered, particularly regarding authorship and form, and its relationship to other movements globally to extend the vote. The involvement of men in the women's suffrage movement and women in the anti-suffrage movement will be explored. The women`s suffrage movement drew on some existing political strategies and innovated in others. Contradictions at the heart of the movement concerned racism and social class.  The writings of the first-wave women`s movement have been categorised, and often marginalised, as propagandist and realist. The adequacy of these terms will be tested in order to reassess the place of women's writing in this period.

The aims of this module are:

• To examine how writings of various kinds (literary prose and poetry, drama and performance, journalism) and the visual arts were used to engage in the political debates about women's independence and equality between women and men in the period of the New Woman in the 1890s to the suffragettes from 1905.


• To provide a practical approach to historical investigation, textual analysis, digitally editing and rewriting stories that will give opportunities to test and challenge political arguments.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Read and analyse a range of literary representations of the women’s suffrage movement.


2. Demonstrate an understanding of the available arguments for and against women’s suffrage in Britain and their cultural representations in literary and cultural forms (drama, prose, poetry).


3. Demonstrate an understanding of the critiques of the arguments for women’s suffrage (including the conflicts arising from social class, national identities and sexuality) and the literary forms in which these conflicts were represented.


4. Evaluate a group discussion.


5. Develop writing skills (essay, discussion forum posts, creative writing and commentary).


6. Work in groups on digital editing and creative writing.


7. Develop IT skills, such as the use of digital editing platform and moodle discussion forum posts). 

• Drama:
  
  
  
  • Cicely Hamilton, A Pageant of Great Women;
  
  
  • Cicely Hamilton and Christopher St John, How the Vote Was Won;
  
  
  • Elizabeth Robins, Votes for Women;
  
  
  • Laurence Housman, Pains and Penalties.  
  
  
  
  


• Novels: Gertrude Colmore, Suffragette Sally.  


• Journalism: women's suffrage newspapers digitised (LSE Women's Library).


• Short Stories: Gertrude Colmore.


• Film: Suffragette, dir. Sarah Gavron.  


• Biography and documentary: Anita Anand, Sophia.  


• Autobiography: Lady Constance Lytton, Prisons and Prisoners.

This module will be delivered via:

• 1 hour lecture
• Followed by a 1 hour seminar each week