Changing Roles

Graverobbers, prime-movers in geo-politics, jailbirds, international football celebs. Such terms are not usually associated with women in the 1920s, as women returning docilely to the domestic cage at the end of the First World War has become part of the accepted narrative. Like many war and immediate post war myths, it does contain some truth, but the story of women between 1918 and 1928 is much more complex, often more positive and certainly far more interesting than previously suggested. Changing Roles looks at some of the women who forged new identities for themselves while exploring how their own or their loved ones’ wartime experiences influenced the roles they stepped into, sometimes reluctantly, frequently enthusiastically, often successfully. It explores how women fought back against the misogynistic climate of the 1920s, used the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act to achieve their goals, played their part as full citizens and how the legacy of their global endeavours, achievements and occasional failures is still with us today, spreading far beyond our shores. By telling the stories of both ordinary and extraordinary women whose actions disturbed the status quo, shook the Establishment to its core, and sent shock-waves across the Atlantic, this book presents a cast of fascinating characters ranging from crowned heads to girl gangs, business women to philanthropists, inviting readers to exclaim, “Gosh, I never knew that!”