A history of the early twentiethcentury movement for womens suffrage in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. In the United Kingdom the question of womens suffrage represented the most substantial challenge to the constitution since 1832 seeking not only to expand but to redefine definitions of citizenship and power. At the same time it was inseparable from other urgent contemporary political debatesthe Irish question the decline of the British Empire the Great War and the increasing demand for workers rights. This collection positions womens suffrage as central to rather than separate from these broader political discussions demonstrating how they intersected and were mutually constitutive. In particular this collection pays close attention to the issues of class and Empire which shaped this era. It demonstrates how campaigns for womens rights were consciously and unconsciously played out impacting attitudes to motherhood spurring the radical birthstrike movement and burgeoning communist sympathies in workingclass communities around Britain and beyond. show more