The feminine public sphere middle-class women and civic life in Scotland, c. 1870-1914 - Smitley, Megan K. (Manchester University Press, 2009)
Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The organisations; 2. The feminine public sphere; 3. Temperance reform and the feminine public sphere; 4. The women's movement and female temperance reform; 5. New views of the women' suffrage campaign:Liberal women and regional perspectives; Conclusion; Appendix 1; Appendix 2; Appendix 3; Appendix 4; Appendix 5; Appendix 6; Bibliography; Index
At a time when women were barred from clerical roles, middle-class women made use of the informal power structures of Victorian and Edwardian associationalism in order to actively participate as citizens. This investigation of women's part in civic life provides a fresh approach to the 'public sphere', illuminates women as agents of a middle-class identity and develops the notion of a 'feminine public sphere', or the web of associations, institutions and discourses used by disenfranchised middle-class women to express their citizenship. The extent of middle-class women's contribution to civic l