Women’s History Review to Mark the Anniversary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act

To mark the anniversary of the passage of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, Women’s History Review has curated a virtual special issue, including suffrage-related articles and interviews. Women’s History Review is a journal dedicated to the documentation of women’s history, with a rich archive of pieces that bring to light the actions of the women who fought for our right to vote. Our suffrage virtual special issue brings together articles both young and old from across the journal’s history, reflecting on the Pankhursts, women as historians and the construction of the suffragettes.

This collection also features a series of exclusive interviews with June Purvis, editor of Women’s History Review, emeritus professor of women’s history at the University of Portsmouth and a renowned historian of the suffragette movement. In honour of the centenary year of women winning the right to vote, and in celebration of Women’s History Month, June shares with us her extensive knowledge on the origins of this historic movement, the role of militancy in achieving suffrage, the status of women’s suffrage across the globe and her feelings on the resonance of the suffragette’s messages one hundred years on.

In the collation of this content we hope to spark conversation around the suffragette movement and its documentation by female historians, but also around the status of gender equality in 2018. Just how far have we come since the 1918 act and how much further do we need to venture in order to make sure the messages of the suffragettes are truly realised?

This content is free until the end of 2018.