ABSTRACT

This article is based on a talk I gave at the London School of Economics in March 2023. The talk was structured in a way to give me the freedom to reflect upon some of the key themes in my book Women’s Activism in Twentith Century Britain; making a difference across the political spectrum. I wrote the book during the pandemic. Archives were closed and even when they opened I could not use them as I had to shield because of health issues. Consequently, the material I relied on was what I could access on-line and on people who I could interview on Zoom. My book drew on my own experiences as an activist and my own theoretical development as a feminist. History and activism intertwined: my story as a former activist and my view that feminist historical scholarship is itself a type of activism came together to give direction and meaning both to my research and to my writing. In my talk, and in this Viewpoint, I want to show the heterogeneous nature of activism, of how individuals and groups from a range of different class and racial background sought to make a difference to their locality, their country and sometimes the world. I argue that women are not a homogenous group but are united—and divided—by class, ethnicity, gender and so on. For instance, not all female activists campaigned for progressive measures, indeed many promoted reactionary agendas.

摘要

本文基于我 2023 年 3 月在伦敦经济学院发表的一次演讲。这次演讲的结构让我能够自由地思考我的著作《二十世纪英国的女性行动主义》中的一些关键主题；在整个政治领域发挥影响力。这本书是我在疫情期间写的。档案馆已关闭，即使打开了，我也无法使用它们，因为由于健康问题，我不得不屏蔽它们。因此，我所依赖的材料是我可以在线访问的材料以及我可以在 Zoom 上采访的人。我的书借鉴了我作为一名活动家的经历以及作为一名女权主义者的理论发展。历史和行动主义交织在一起：我作为一名前活动家的故事和我认为女权主义历史学术本身就是一种行动主义的观点结合在一起，为我的研究和写作提供了方向和意义。在我的演讲和这个观点中，我想展示行动主义的异质性，即来自不同阶级和种族背景的个人和团体如何寻求改变他们的地方、他们的国家，有时甚至是世界。我认为，女性不是一个同质的群体，而是因阶级、种族、性别等而团结在一起，同时又被分裂。例如，并非所有女性活动家都提倡进步措施，实际上许多女性活动家都提倡反动议程。