No More Civil Disobedience?

New Role Models for Women after the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act, 1919

Julia NevilleHeroes and Leaders WorkshopMarch 2013 – Exeter University

Where I’m coming from

• Variations in interwar local government decisions

• Public policy theory• Advocacy Coalition Framework• Interest groups• Core Beliefs as the basis for decision-making• Would ‘heroes’ help?

Advocacy Coalition Framework

Core Beliefs -as characterised in the ACF -

Defining Characteristics

Scope and Susceptibility to Change

Deep Core Beliefs

Fundamental normative and ontological axioms

Very difficult. Akin to a religious conversion

Policy Core Beliefs

Policy positions on the basic strategies for achieving core values

Difficult, but can occur if experience reveals serious anomalies

Women in 1919

• As well as the right to vote (for some) …

• New opportunities to take on public roles– County Councillors– Members of Parliament– Jurors– Magistrates (JPs)

• Were the old ‘models’ and ‘heroes’ fit for the new purposes?

The Old Image …- militant suffragettes broke the law and paid the penalty -

The New Image- Lady Astor elected to serve as Member of Parliament -

The Periclean Ideal

Every Athenian citizen profoundly believed in and loved his city, and was prepared to work and, if necessary, to

die for her. To serve the city was the object of every man, and those who served her best were held in the highest honour, while those who did no public work

were regarded with contempt. That was the secret of the greatness of Athens.

The contrast with Manchester is depressing …

E.W. Simon, A City Council from Within, 1926, pp. 234-5

Justice, Prejudice and Woman

Heroes of the Suffrage CampaignPageant of Great Women, 1909

• Learned Women & Artists– women are not ‘dumb’

• Queens & Saints– women can fulfil ‘stern duty’e.g. St Hilda, Elizabeth Fry, Queen Philippa, Queen Victoria

• Heroines & Warriors– women can be faithful and endure suffering for a causee.g. Boadicea, Joan of Arc, Kate Barlass, Florence Nightingale

Influence of the Great War -Change and Reinforcement-

• Emulation of male heroism and sacrifice– Edith Cavell

• The Mother• Reinforcement of

women’s nursing and medical roles– Rise of Florence

Nightingale

Rise and Fall of Women War Heroes

Google (British English) Books Ngram

Post War Pageant Detail (1)Honiton Ilkeston

LibertyBoadiceaPuritan MaidMadam RolandHarriet Beecher Stowe

Champions and Friends of LibertyBoadiceaMrs TruemanHuguenot womanMadam RolandHarriet Beecher Stowe

ChristianityQueen Bertha of KentQueen Margaret of ScotlandQueen Elizabeth of HungarySusannah WesleyCatherine BoothMary Slessor of Calabar

Women who spread ChristianityBerthaGenevieve of ParisSusannah WesleyCatherine BoothMary Slessor

Post War Pageant Detail (2)Honiton Ilkeston

HumanityQueen Philippa of EnglandAlice, Countess of LisleGrace DarlingSister Dora of WalsallFlorence NightingaleEdith Cavell

Life SaversGrace DarlingSister Dora of WalsallFlorence NightingaleElizabeth Fry

VisionJoan of ArcElizabeth Barrett BrowningElizabeth FryJosephine Butler

Seers and VisionariesJoan of ArcElizabeth Barrett BrowningVictoria, Queen of England

Motherhood A mother

Post War Pageants – a new roll call• Liberty

e.g. Manon Roland, Harriet Beecher Stowe

• Christianitye.g. Susannah Wesley, Mary Slessor

• Humanitye.g. Sister Dora of Walsall, Edith Cavell

• Visione.g. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Josephine Butler

• Motherhood

[Dis]Agreement on the Pantheon?

• The ‘Angel in the House’? – division amongst women about their roles

• Abjuring heroes – don’t look back

• Anti-heroes and caricatures

Heroes for whom? – in what circumstances?

• Not often for women active in public life

• In educational contexts– Exhortations– In the ‘national curriculum’– By special interest groups

e.g. Temperance Movement, Sunday School

• Influencing the next generation

Lady Florence Cecil, 1926

Worth further exploration?

• Can an understanding of ‘heroes and leaders’ contribute to a better understanding of the core beliefs of interest groups in a public policy system?

• Can the Advocacy Coalition Framework contribute to the theoretical framework for understanding how role models and exemplars function?