As the populist right gains political legitimacy and the backlash against feminist movements grows, pay and health inequalities are worsening, and misogyny has taken on new insidious digital forms, gender equality is as contested and uncertain as it has ever been. How did we get here? And why, despite over a century of protest, has more progress not been made?
In this book, acclaimed historian Pat Thane offers a clear-eyed introduction to the key forces that have driven as well as limited the pursuit of gender equality in Britain over the last century. From the fight for enfranchisement to the election of Margaret Thatcher, the rise of New Labour and the impact of austerity, she reveals that gender inequalities have always intersected with inequalities of class, income, disability and ethnicity. With examples spanning education, employment, political representation, health and sexual violence, she explores how and why such profound inequalities have survived and pervaded every area of our lives.
Women's Liberation addresses the fundamental question at the heart of this long fight for change: is gender inequality a mainstay of our social, economic and political fabric or is a more hopeful future possible? This lucid and accessible book is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding contemporary debates about gender in Britain, as well as twentieth-century social and political history.
By:
Pat Thane
Imprint: Polity Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
ISBN: 9781509566594
ISBN 10: 1509566597
Pages: 276
Publication Date: 29 April 2026
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
:Abbreviations Introduction 1Women Fighting for a Political Voice, 1900–1918 2What Difference did the Vote Make? 1918–1939 3Gender in Wartime, 1939–1945 4Making the ‘Welfare State’, 1945–1951 5‘Never Had it So Good’? 1951–1964 6A Permissive Society? 1964–1970 7The Seventies, 1970–1979 8The Lady’s Not for Equality, 1979–1997 9Things Can Only Get Better? New Labour, 1997–2010 10Austerity, 2010–2024 Conclusion Notes Index Abbreviations Introduction 1Women Fighting for a Political Voice, 1900–1918 2What Difference did the Vote Make? 1918–1939 3Gender in Wartime, 1939–1945 4Making the ‘Welfare State’, 1945–1951 5‘Never Had it So Good’? 1951–1964 6A Permissive Society? 1964–1970 7The Seventies, 1970–1979 8The Lady’s Not for Equality, 1979–1997 9Things Can Only Get Better? New Labour, 1997–2010 10Austerity, 2010–2024 Conclusion Notes Index
Pat Thane is Visiting Professor in History, Birkbeck College, London and Professor Emerita in History, University of London. She is a Fellow of the British Academy.
Reviews for Women's Liberation: Gender Inequality from Suffrage to Austerity
""In this authoritative and accessible survey, Pat Thane accounts for more than a century of change and continuity in women's lives. Women's Liberation brings much-needed clarity and insight to a complex and consequential subject."" Helen McCarthy, University of Cambridge ""A panoptic history of gender (in)equality in Britain... Women's Liberation is thoughtful, packed with facts and absolutely necessary reading for anyone who wants to understand the state of Britain today."" Ann Oakley, University College London ""An indispensable companion for anyone interested in the struggle for gender equality and women's rights... comprehensive and important."" Barbara Caine, University of Sydney
