Women in American elections

It has been claimed 'The Year of the Conservative Woman' or Mama Grizzlies as Sarah Palin would say conservative women were. What does this really mean? Certainly the elections today will not mean more women in Congress. In fact, there will be fewer if the Republicans make the gains expected - possibly even the lowest number for 40 years. Are they advocating women's rights? They tend not to focus on women's traditional issues and put forward more traditionally male issues such as the concern about the deficit and taxation. Is this post-feminism as claimed in this US News article? Certainly, Democrat women do not see it that way. They argue that repealing healthcare is not helpful to women and the children that the mama grizzlies have supposedly reared up on their hind legs to protect. Michelle Obama in her recent speech for Harry Reid was forceful in her refutation of this argument. The Times have a good article on these arguments which will be up in the Study Room tomorrow.

ps on American women, see here for the story of Dilma Rousseff, who has just won the presidency of Brazil.

International Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day. It was first held in 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, when over a million women attended rallies demanding equality. Ukraine, China and Vietnam mark it with a holiday. Here are some further facts and here is the official website. But is such a day really needed any more? What events from "women's history" are worth celebrating today?

18th century women

Just a few suggestions on books about famous and/or important women in the 18th century. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire is a great read and there is now a film that covers her life story. Here is Amanda Foreman’s website which has exerpts from the book and information about other books she has written. Stella Tillyard is another author who has written some great books about eighteenth century women – from Aristocrats, about the lives of the Lennox sisters, to A Royal Affair, about the lives of George III’s siblings. See here for an interview with Stella Tillyard. Finally, it is worth reading Antonia Fraser's book on Marie Antoinette for a different view - here is her website.

All-women shortlists for the Conservatives?

David Cameron has suggested that he might be prepared now to countenance all-women shortlists for Conservative candidates from January, using it as a threat to recalcitrant Conservative associations. But is this a good idea? Does it help or hinder women? Read Nick Robinson's take here and a debate on the Daily Politics here.

Women in History Timeline

A great timeline here of important developments for women in Britain from 1900 to 2006. From Radio 4's Woman's Hour, it gives an audio commentary on each decade. Which ones do you think were the most important? The presenter of Woman's Hour Jenni Murray writes an article here to accompany the series about her own family's experiences alongside the events and ends with a discussion of feminism today, finishing with the quotation,"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what a feminist is. I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat"!