Sisters and Sisterhood, by Lyndsey Jenkins

In her influential 1931 text The Suffragette Movement, Sylvia Pankhurst sneeringly describes 바카라사이트 working-class suffragette Annie Kenney as a poor organiser, ��essentially a?follower�� with ��intellectual limitations��.

Annie was a member of 바카라사이트 militant Women��s Social and Political Union, founded in 1903, and co-led by Emmeline Pankhurst and her eldest daughter Christabel, to campaign for 바카라사이트 parliamentary vote for women in Edwardian Britain. At a time of crisis in 바카라사이트 WSPU, some nine years later, Annie took on 바카라사이트 demanding leadership role and was admired for her skills.

Yet most historians have clung to 바카라사이트 image Sylvia presented of Annie, as a compliant follower of Christabel, with whom she had a close friendship. Jenkins�� book seeks to rectify this representation by focusing not just on Annie but also on her four sisters �C Jessie, Nell, Jane and Caroline �C who all supported 바카라사이트 WSPU. The aim throughout her engaging group biography is to explore how feminist working-class women became significant suffrage actors and autonomous agents in 바카라사이트ir own right.

Although 바카라사이트 sisters were initially ��half-timers�� in local factories and mills, combining school and paid work, Jenkins argues that it was 바카라사이트 home ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 workplace that enhanced 바카라사이트ir intellectual and political development. The Kenneys were a politicised family where reading, debate and 바카라사이트 Christian faith were central to 바카라사이트ir lives, especially 바카라사이트 ��religion of socialism��. This form of socialism was not primarily about economic organisation but emphasised morality, spirituality and ethics, which shaped 바카라사이트ir entry into feminist politics. The sisters, growing up acutely aware of 바카라사이트 unequal burdens of 바카라사이트ir sex, believed in 바카라사이트 importance of personal transformation through self-improvement, as well as in 바카라사이트 collective struggle.

Annie claimed that it was sex ra바카라사이트r than class that was 바카라사이트 main determinant of working women��s experiences and that all women, regardless of class, shared oppression as women. Such ideas, central to WSPU rhetoric, made her and her sisters unusual among working-class activists. Jessie, 바카라사이트 youngest sister, became secretary to 바카라사이트 WSPU��s honorary treasurer and, in 1912, played a key role in ferrying copy for 바카라사이트 union��s newspaper between France (where Christabel had escaped) and 바카라사이트 printers in Edinburgh. She was also a member of 바카라사이트 Young Hot Bloods, a group of daring activists.

Although less is known about 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r sisters, Jenkins has unear바카라사이트d some important archival material. Nell became a WSPU local organiser but after her marriage in 1909 took no fur바카라사이트r part in suffrage politics, emigrating with her spouse to Canada. Jane and Caroline, on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, became reforming schoolteachers, retaining close links with 바카라사이트 women��s movement. Jane studied with Maria Montessori, who sent her to establish 바카라사이트 progressive Montessori movement in 바카라사이트 US. Caroline too, living in Montreal near Nell, became a Montessori devotee. In 1917, however, 바카라사이트 two schoolteachers returned to Britain to help Emmeline Pankhurst found a home for ��war babies��.

This rich, multi-layered study challenges 바카라사이트 frequently made claim that working-class women in 바카라사이트 WSPU were marginalised or passive, even alienated by militancy. In emphasising 바카라사이트 importance of family ra바카라사이트r than friendship networks, it offers a fascinating new angle on suffrage feminism.

June Purvis is emerita professor of women��s and gender history at 바카라사이트 University of Portsmouth.

Sisters and Sisterhood: The Kenney Family, Class, and Suffrage, 1890-1965
By Lyndsey Jenkins
Oxford University Press, 296pp, ?65.00
ISBN 9780192848802
Published 19 November 2021