Housewives, workers and citizens: Voluntary women's organisations and the campaign for women's rights in England and Wales during the post-war period

This 1964 description of voluntary women’s organisations in a government publication signifies official acknowledgment on the part of the state of the role of women’s organisations active in Britain in the 1960s. The pamphlet, which documented the position of women in Britain, reported the existence of over 100 national women’s organisations made up of feminist and political groups, professional associations, religious bodies and ‘social and philanthropic’ organisations. It would appear therefore that voluntary women’s organisations remained an important part of the social and political fabric of British life in the post-war period, just as they had done throughout the first half of the twentieth century.2 These organisations offered, as the extract above suggests, not just an outlet for the social, cultural and educational interests of members but an opportunity for women as equal citizens to influence and shape the future of British society. This was an important consideration at a time when women were significantly underrepresented in politics, business and the professions, thereby limiting their ability to affect issues of national and economic importance.3