Faith, Feminism and Politics: The Inter-war Campaigning Strategies of St Joan’s Social and Political Alliance

• Published in: Modern British history 2024-12, Vol.35 (4), p.397-413
• Main Author: Mangion, Carmen M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2976-7016; 2976-7024
• DOI: 10.1093/tcbh/hwae044

Knitting together faith, feminism, and politics, this article examines St Joan’s Social and Political Alliance as a significant contributor to the interwar feminist movement locating them within the public, political sphere. It contends that religious identities, in this study, a Catholic identity, can help to deepen and complicate our understanding of feminism. Members of St Joan’s Alliance walked a tightrope, navigating their feminist and Catholic ideals. The article begins by explaining their ‘equalitarian’ feminism and how they married this to their Catholicism. Then, two means of promoting and furthering their public presence as interwar feminists are identified. First, the Alliance encouraged Catholic women’s involvement in the democratic process. As public speakers and political actors, they educated and politicized new citizens. Secondly, the periodical press, a key strategic tool, was used to amplify the political campaigns of the Alliance to its Catholic readers, and to participate in public conversations amongst the wider community of feminist and women’s activists. The Alliance articulated their feminist programme cogently to their co-religionists, sometimes having to justify its feminism, some of which was deemed contrary to the ideal of Catholic womanhood. St Joan’s Alliance was not a peripheral feminist organization; it operated on the national and global stage alongside other similar organizations.