A Women’s History of Guernsey 1850s-1950s

Description

Guernsey’s progress towards sexual equality has been slow, and many of the legislative milestones reached in the UK in Victorian or Edwardian times were not achieved locally until well into the 20^th century.  As well as exploring the reasons for the timelag this book provides a comprehensive account of daily lives of insular women between the 1850s and 1950s.  Extensive original research, featuring many individual case histories, Rose investigates a diverse range of topics including the suffrage, education, work, marriage, domestic abuse, sexual violence and prostitution.

Throughout the study, an effort is made to compare and contrast developments in Guernsey with those taking place in the UK, Jersey and France.  This approach enables the experience of Guernseywomen to be placed on a comparative scale which takes account of culture and mentalités as well as political allegiance.  It also facilitates a concluding assessment of how far Guernseywomen contributed toward their own emancipation and how much of it was achieved on the shoulders of pioneers elsewhere.

Dr Rose-Marie Crossan is an independent social historian.  She was born in Guernsey and has lived most of her life in the island.  After finishing her secondary education, she took a degree in Modern Languages at Oxford University, followed by a postgraduate Diploma in Translation at Kent University, and – after a 20 year break from academia – a PhD in History at Leicester University under Professor Keith Snell.  Dr Crossan’s previous publications include Guernsey, 1814-1914: Migration and Modernisation; Poverty and Welfare in Guernsey, 1560-2015 and The States and Secondary Education 1560-1970.