‘You’d better accept you’ll have to concentrate on domestic politics for now’ – gender bias in the post-war Commons

As Women’s History Month reaches a close, Dr Emma Peplow, lead coordinator of our Oral History Project, looks back through our interview archive to explore a theme often discussed by female interviewees: gender bias in the post-war House of Commons… For many of the former female MPs interviewed for our oral history project, their experiences in Parliament seem to be both as insiders and outsiders … Continue reading ‘You’d better accept you’ll have to concentrate on domestic politics for now’ – gender bias in the post-war Commons

Nancy Astor: the first female MP in the House of Commons

Dr Kathryn Rix, Assistant Editor of the Victorian Commons, discusses the political career of the first female MP to sit in Parliament, Nancy Astor… Today marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Nancy Astor (1879-1964), who occupies a significant place in parliamentary history as the first female MP to take her seat in the House of Commons following the passing of the 1918 Representation … Continue reading Nancy Astor: the first female MP in the House of Commons