Editing Edwardian era (section)

===Rising status of women===
[[File:The smoking room of a ladies' club.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Oilette postcard with art by Phil May, published by Raphael Tuck & Sons, {{Circa|1910s}}]]For housewives, sewing machines enabled the production of ready-made clothing and made it easier for women to sew their own clothes; more generally, argues Barbara Burman, "home dressmaking was sustained as an important aid for women negotiating wider social shifts and tensions in their lives."<ref>Barbara Burman, "Made at Home by Clever Fingers: Home Dressmaking in Edwardian England," in Barbara Burman, ed. ''The Culture of Sewing: Gender, Consumption, and Home Dressmaking'' (1999) p 34</ref> Increased literacy in the middle class gave women wider access to information and ideas. Numerous new magazines appealed to their tastes and helped define femininity.<ref>Margaret Beetham, ''A magazine of her own?: domesticity and desire in the woman's magazine, 1800–1914'' (Routledge, 2003).</ref>

The inventions of the typewriter, telephone, and new filing systems offered middle-class women increased employment opportunities.<ref>Guerriero R. Wilson, "Women's work in offices and the preservation of men's 'breadwinning' jobs' in early twentieth-century Glasgow." ''Women's History Review'' 10#3 (2001): 463–482.</ref><ref>Gregory Anderson, ''The white-blouse revolution: female office workers since 1870'' (1988).</ref> So too did the rapid expansion of the school system,<ref>Carol Dyhouse, ''Girls growing up in late-Victorian and Edwardian England'' (Routledge, 2012).</ref> and the emergence of the new profession of nursing. Education and status led to demands for female roles in the rapidly expanding world of sports.<ref>Cartriona M. Parratt, "Athletic 'Womanhood': Exploring sources for female sport in Victorian and Edwardian England." ''Journal of Sport History'' 16#2 (1989): 140–157.</ref>

Women were very active in church affairs, including attendance at services, Sunday school teaching, fund raising, pastoral care, social work and support for international missionary activities. They were almost completely excluded from practically all leadership roles.<ref>Roger Ottewill, "'Skilful and Industrious': Women and Congregationalism in Edwardian Hampshire 1901–1914." ''Family & Community History'' 19#1 (2016): 50–62.</ref>

====Women's suffrage====
{{Further|Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom}}
As middle-class women rose in status, they increasingly supported demands for a political voice.<ref>Martin Pugh, ''Women's suffrage in Britain, 1867–1928'' (1980).</ref><ref>[[June Purvis]], "Gendering the Historiography of the Suffragette Movement in Edwardian Britain: some reflections." ''[[Women's History Review]]'' 22#4 (2013): 576–590.</ref> There was significant support for woman suffrage in all the parties, but the Liberal Party was in control after 1906 and a handful of its leaders, especially [[H. H. Asquith]], blocked it.<ref>{{cite book|author=Martin Roberts| title=Britain, 1846–1964: The Challenge of Change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gwc0Rlq8al4C&pg=RA1-PT80|year=2001|publisher=Oxford UP|page=8|isbn=9780199133734}}</ref>

There were numerous organisations which did their work quietly. After 1897, they were increasingly linked together by the [[National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies]] (NUWSS) led by [[Millicent Fawcett]]. However, front page publicity was seized by the [[Women's Social and Political Union]] (WSPU). Founded in 1903, it was tightly controlled by the three Pankhursts, [[Emmeline Pankhurst]] (1858–1928), and her daughters [[Christabel Pankhurst]] (1880–1958) and [[Sylvia Pankhurst]] (1882–1960).<ref>Jane Marcus, ''Suffrage and the Pankhursts'' (2013).</ref>

It specialised in highly visible publicity campaigns such as large parades. This had the effect of energising all dimensions of the suffrage movement. While there was a majority of support for suffrage in Parliament, the ruling Liberal Party refused to allow a vote on the issue; the result of which was an escalation in the suffragette campaign. The WSPU, in dramatic contrast to its allies, embarked on a campaign of violence to publicise the issue, even to the detriment of its own aims.<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/womens-history/suffrage/|title=The Struggle for Suffrage {{!}} Historic England| last=England| first=Historic| website=historicengland.org.uk|access-date=2017-10-03}}</ref><ref>Melanie Phillips, ''The Ascent of Woman: A History of the Suffragette Movement and the Ideas behind it'' (Abacus, 2004).</ref>

====Birth control====
Although abortion was illegal, it was nevertheless a widespread form of birth control.<ref name="knight">{{cite journal|last=Knight|first=Patricia|title=Women and Abortion in Victorian and Edwardian England|journal=History Workshop|year=1977|volume=4|pages=57–68| doi=10.1093/hwj/4.1.57| pmid=11610301}}</ref> Used predominantly by working-class women, the procedure was used not only as a means of terminating pregnancy, but also to prevent poverty and unemployment. Those who transported [[contraceptive]]s could be legally punished. Contraceptives became more expensive over time and had a high failure rate. Unlike contraceptives, abortion did not need any prior planning and was less expensive. Newspaper advertisements were used to promote and sell [[abortifacient]]s indirectly.<ref name="mclaren">{{cite journal|last=McLaren |first=Angus| title=Abortion in England 1890–1914|journal=Victorian Studies|year=1977|pages=379–400}}</ref>

Not all of society was accepting of contraceptives or abortion, and opponents viewed both as part of one and the same sin. Abortion was much more common among the middle classes than among those living in rural areas, where the procedure was not readily available. Women were often tricked into purchasing ineffective pills. In addition to fearing legal reprimands, many physicians did not condone abortion because they viewed it as an immoral procedure potentially endangering a woman's life.<ref name="mclaren" /> Because abortion was illegal and physicians refused to perform the procedure, local women provided abortions, often using crochet hooks or similar instruments.<ref name="knight" />

Feminists of the era focused on educating and finding jobs for women, leaving aside the controversial issues of contraceptives and abortion, which in popular opinion were often related to promiscuity and prostitution. The Church condemned abortion as immoral and a form of rebellion against the child-bearing role women were expected to assume. Many considered abortion to be a selfish act that allowed a woman to avoid personal responsibility, contributing to a decline in moral values.<ref name="knight" /> Abortion was often a solution for women who already had children and did not want more. Consequently, the size of families decreased drastically.<ref name="mclaren" />

====Poverty among working-class women====
[[File:BCLM-Mary Macarthur 7b.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Mary Macarthur]] addressing the crowds during the chain makers' strike, [[Cradley Heath]], 1910]]
The [[Poor Law Amendment Act 1834]] defined who could receive monetary relief. The Act reflected and perpetuated prevailing gender conditions. In Edwardian society, men were the source of wealth. The law restricted relief for unemployed, able-bodied male workers, due to the prevailing view that they would find work in the absence of financial assistance. However, women were treated differently. After the Poor Law was passed, women and children received most of the aid.<ref name=thane/>

The law did not recognise single independent women, and put women and children into the same category. If a man was physically disabled, his wife was also treated as disabled under the [[coverture]] laws, even though coverture was fast becoming outmoded in the Edwardian era. Unmarried mothers were sent to the workhouse, receiving unfair social treatment such as being restricted from attending church on Sundays.<ref name=thane/>

During marriage disputes, women often lost the rights to their children, even if their husbands were abusive.<ref name=thane>{{cite journal|last=Thane|first=Pat|author-link = Pat Thane| title=Women and the Poor Law in Victorian and Edwardian England|journal=History Workshop| volume=6| issue=6|year=1978 |pages=29–51|doi=10.1093/hwj/6.1.29| jstor=4288190}}</ref> However, women were increasingly granted custody of their children under seven years of age; this tendency was colloquially known as the "tender years doctrine", in which it was believed that a child was best left under maternal care until the age of seven.<ref>{{cite book| author=Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young|title=Legalizing Misandry:From Public Shame To Systemic Discrimination Against Men| year=2006|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|page=126| isbn=9780773528628}}</ref>

At the time, single mothers were the poorest sector in society, disadvantaged for at least four reasons. First, women lived longer, often leaving them widowed with children. Second, women had fewer opportunities to work, and when they did find it, their wages were lower than male workers' wages. Third, women were often less likely to marry or remarry after being widowed, leaving them as the main providers for the remaining family members. Finally, poor women had deficient diets, because their husbands and children received disproportionately large shares of food. Many women were malnourished and had limited access to health care.<ref name=thane/>

====Female servants====
Edwardian Britain had large numbers of male and female [[domestic servant]]s, in both urban and rural areas.<ref name=benson>{{cite journal|last=Benson|first=John|s2cid=145703473|title=One Man and His Woman: Domestic Service in Edwardian England|journal=Labour History Review|year=2007| volume=72| issue=3|pages=203–214|doi=10.1179/174581607X264793}}</ref> Middle- and upper-class women relied on servants to run their homes smoothly. Servants were provided with food, clothing, housing, and a small wage, and lived in a self-enclosed social system within their employer's house.<ref name=davidoff>{{cite journal|last=Davidoff|first=Lenore|title=Mastered for Life: Servant and Wife in Victorian and Edwardian England|journal=Society for the Study of Labour History|year=1973| volume=73| issue=27|pages=23–24}}</ref> However, the number of domestic servants fell in the Edwardian era due to fewer young people willing to be employed in this capacity.<ref name=pooley>{{cite journal|last=Pooley|first=Sian|title=Domestic Servants and Their Urban Employers: A Case Study of Lancaster 1880–1914|journal=The Economic History Review|year=2008| volume=62|issue=2| pages=405–429| doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.2008.00459.x|s2cid=153704509}}</ref>