Feminine Fascism: Women in Britain's Fascist Movement, 1923-45

Julie V. Gottlieb

Sep 2000 · I.B.Tauris

About this ebook

How far did women support Oswald Mosley's Black Shirts? This important reference work fills a significant gap in the historiography of British fascism, which has generally overlooked the contribution of the women’s movement to Britain's fascist experience. Looking at female fascist activism and the influence of feminist ideology on the fascist agenda, Gottlieb shows the significant impact of feminist thought in this area. In spite of its mainstream vocal opposition to fascism, parts of the women’s movement as Gottlieb demonstrates, had an implicit connection with the British Union of Fascists. Gottlieb’s extensive research, which makes use of newly released government documents, a huge range of contemporary pamphlets, newspapers and speeches, and original interviews with those personally involved in the fascist movement, provides an impressive and convincing body of evidence to support her claims.

About the author

Julie Gottlieb is Professor of Modern History at University of Sheffield. She is the author of The Culture of Fascism (I.B. Tauris, 2004), The Aftermath of Suffrage (2013), 'Guilty Women', Foreign Policy and Appeasement in Inter-War Britain(2015) and Rethinking Right-Wing Women (2017). She has appeared on BBC's Woman's Hour, The Sunday Politics and Sky News, and has blogged for The Huffington Post, The Conversation and History Matters. She was the historical adviser on the statue of suffragist Millicent Fawcett, unveiled in 2018.