Gender, empire and citizenship

British women and the South African War

Eliza Riedi

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9780719079450
• eBook ISBN: 9781526181589
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: African History
• Index: History

When the South African War broke out in 1899 British middle-class women, already well-integrated into party politics and public life, were quick to respond. Women across a wide political spectrum actively engaged in public debates over the war through meetings, speeches, petitions, electioneering, and the press. From the start pacifist women made important contributions to the anti-war movement, later providing vital backing for Emily Hobhouse's campaign to reform the concentration camps. Women imperialists supported the war effort through military philanthropy and imperial propaganda. Under Millicent Garrett Fawcett the government-appointed Ladies' Committee transformed the camps, while hundreds of British women were recruited as camps teachers and nurses. Fundamentally shaped by ideologies of gender and race, women's responses to this imperial war continued to influence women's public action and discourses of citizenship into the First World War.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• Introduction: Forgotten voices
• 1 An error and a crime: the women pro-Boers
• 2 ‘Doing our country’s work’: women and patriotic charity
• 3 ‘A thrill of imperial sentiment’: women and imperialist propaganda
• 4 For England’s honour: pro-Boer women and the camps
• 5 A committee of ladies: reforming the camps
• 6 Imperialism at work: professional women in the camps
• Conclusion: Women, war, empire and citizenship
• Select bibliography
• Index