Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, feminist journalism developed as its own field in Britain at a rapid pace. The culture surrounding feminist periodicals allows scholars an insight to the feminist movement, their goals and progression. Through the publication of advocacy papers and feminist periodicals, the Victorian and Edwardian women were able to express their goals for equality and gender struggles. It was through the use of journalism that a real insight to the propaganda pushed by feminists in this era can be seen. Papers such as ‘Votes for Women’, a paper dedicated to the cause of social and political suffrage, the relationship between suffrage propaganda and journalism can be seen. G. L. Harding recognized this in 1912 with his comments in ‘The Freewoman’, writing: ‘we seem to be feeling toward something like honour. Never was a large civilised community, either artistically or politically, more conscious of itself than is ours to‐day’. This essay will display, through the use of primary material, the aims of the feminist press, the techniques in which they used to achieve these aims and to also highlight some of the struggles they faced from the wider press.
The beginning of the feminist press in Britain began largely with the launch of the English Woman's Journal in the late 1850s and into the 1860s when other periodicals began to be published with women as the target audience. Levine describes the 1860s as a time which ‘serious journals [took] positions on feminist issues’ and ‘target[ed] women as a principle audience’. With this development in the late 1800s, came the ‘Victorian Press’ founded in 1860 by Emily Faithful. Faithful was a member of the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women, the ‘Victorian Press’ was founded to offer new opportunities in London, for women to be a part of the professional industry of journalism. The advancement of the feminist periodical press allowed for the works of women to be expressed without prejudice by the opposite gender. Pieces of art, literature, political and social expression were valued and able to be read and heard by a wider audience than ever before. By the end of the nineteenth century, feminist journalism had become self-sustainable, being identified as a new professional organisation. It is no surprise that the rise of feminist periodicals came hand in hand with the rise of the sensation known as ‘The New Woman’. Feminist periodicals would more often than not align themselves with this idea of ‘the new woman’ often having representations of the image of the modern woman throughout. Fraser, Green and Johnston describe this pairing of ideals as articulating “the unevennesses and reciprocities of evolving gender ideologies” and offering “material realization, generically and formally, of that dynamic and relational cultural process”. This idea ties into the advancement of ‘new journalism’ which took place throughout the nineteenth century. The anxieties surrounding ‘new journalism’ and the ‘new woman’ were often paired together, representing the advancement of periodical and society.
Periodicals in the nineteenth century had become central to everyday life. Being the source of news, entertainment, advertisements and much more, they had become a crutch to the workings of society. Jones describes the press as being “an essential reference point in the daily lives of millions of people.” Periodicals offer an insight to the every day lives and cultures of Victorian people. Jones goes further than this, arguing that the press shaped the public, having a direct effect on the nature of society. It is this effect on society which made the press and provincials ripe for the use of groups and movements who needed to gain visibility to the public to support their causes. By using newspapers, movements were able to have public debates, creating credibility for themselves amongst the general masses. To engage with the press was essential in gaining enough support to boost political or social movements to a place of influence. Women and feminist movements began to recognise this power that the press held over the public. It was during the late 1850s, that the use of periodicals to gain a wider readership for their cause, that feminists began to launch their own publications, made by woman and aimed at women. It is within these periodicals where the scholar can receive an insight to the political, social and cultural struggles women faced during the late nineteenth century.
October 1888, the Women’s Penny Paper came into print. It was self-described as being “The only paper in the world conducted, written, printed and published by women”. This ‘penny paper’ did not only dedicate itself to the feminist cause, but also offered itself as a source of news and entertainment for its readers. The first issue of this periodical displayed a clear message for its agendas: “to supply our readers with general English and Foreign News in such a way as to place before them the leading questions of the day in plain and concise language, so that those busy women who have not leisure to read the daily papers may so far acquaint themselves with the important events of the day, as to be able to form and express their opinion upon them.” This first statement is bold as it completely separates itself from periodicals which are already present, written by men. This statement insinuates that the news produced by men is not practical for the woman reader, suggesting that women are to busy for not “plain” or “concise” pieces of journalism. This reflects the social stance of women in the nineteenth century, that women were always busy, whether it was with a profession of their own, being a wife or being a mother. The parliamentary press gallery refused admission to a reporter from the Women’s Penny Paper in 1890, displaying how female dominated journalism did not fit into the existing mold of the press at this time, despite that feminist journalism had been progressing since the late 1850s. The application for admittance independently displays how women were using journalism to catapult themselves into the political sphere that was dominated by men. Within its publication of “Our Policy”, the Women’s Penny Paper described their aimed readership as being “the working woman as freely as to the educated lady; to the conservative and the radical, to the Englishwoman and the foreigner,” claiming for women “a full share of power with all its duties, responsibilities and privileges in public and private life.” This statement is powerful; it describes the paper as being non-discriminatory between classes or race. This statement made the periodical both exclusive and inclusive, exclusive to women and inclusive to every type of woman. The paper with this ‘policy’ is attempting to unite women to one common cause, which is a powerful use of propaganda within this periodical.
The Women’s Penny Paper made an effort to differentiate itself from “women’s pages” prior to its launch. Within the “Our Policy” publication, describing works prior to its launch as being “too conservative” and “timid”. The paper recognised that women’s papers had done “good” in their efforts to open the press up to female influence, but makes the observation that more can be done to free women in the profession of journalism as fearless of men, no longer having to “fear the consequences” of their publications for having a feminist agenda. This statement is a strong form of propaganda, it offers the illusion that the paper is above the confines of papers produced by men, to publish how they see fit with no restraints. However, this is not entirely accurate, The feminist press did still offer similar news to which the wider press was publishing, in some cases even publishing articles from other, non-feminist, papers. The paper’s aim was to be political and radical amongst it’s “timid” rivals in the feminist press. The request for admittance to the reporters’ gallery, to obtain parliamentary coverage, would have been a symbol for the advancement of the feminist movement. To be allowed access to parliament, to report the policies which largely affected women and to broadcast it to the female readers of London would have been a great step in giving women a seat at the political table. The refusal of entry was not merely accepted. The Women’s Penny Paper published a statement in March 1890, explaining to their readers the request had been made and consequently denied. The periodical quoted the Sergeant at arms, K. D. Erksine, as saying he had “no authority to admit any ladies into the reporters’ gallery.” This allowed the refusal to become public knowledge, something that before the feminist press would have not been as widely recognised other than the less effective word of mouth. A female journalist being refused entry purely because of her sex is a display of the male dominated culture that was present throughout the Victorian era. The effect of this report was astonishing. The feminist paper’s article inspired the Speaker of the House to respond in parliament, claiming that “there was no order of the House against a lady being admitted”. From this, debate sparked in the press with conflicting opinions as to whether or not a woman journalist should be allowed into the Press Gallery or not.
The reactions from other journalists and politicians was immense. The event caused by the Women’s Penny Paper led to tensions amongst conflicting groups of distinguished individuals. The editorial in the Women’s Weekly Paper following the incident included the following statement: “Woman, has for the first time, knocked at the official door of the Press and requested admission, that all this flutter has been created.” … “We do not expect that the door to this august body, as typified by the Press Gallery, will be opened to us at our first approach, but we shall try again.” This editorial shows that the periodical did not expect to be granted entrance on their first request, but instead allowed to make a start in closing the gap of inequality that existed between the rights of male and female journalists. Critics of the papers request in entering the Press Gallery insist that female journalists’ access to Hansard should be enough to satisfy them. However, Hansard was not completely accurate in the nineteenth century, and this being the only form of compromise displayed how the most of the mainstream press and politicians viewed feminist journalism, not taking the field seriously. The friends of the feminist press acknowledged that the refusal was not because of the journalist’s affiliation with a specific paper, but was instead was a refusal because of her gender. The Women’s Penny Paper responded to the support received by promising that “the Woman will knock again–a little louder next time.” The paper went on to argue, in the editorial, that no other type of periodical covered areas of politics which hold special interest to women. The paper identifies the Times and any other daily paper as being neglectors to the promotion of women’s rights and the suffrage movement. The editorial concludes with the suggestion that “under these circumstances it is not strange that women begin to feel like reporting themselves.” This suggestion is essential in delving into why the feminist press was necessary towards the end of the nineteenth century. For periodicals, written and published by men, to ignore the subjects which concern women is dismissing up to half of the populations interests. Women’s increasing ability to read for themselves also contributed to this need for periodicals aimed at women.
The Women’s Penny Paper took full advantage of the reactions it received from other members of the press, going on to republish numerous articles on the matter up to four weeks after it had take place. The incident allowed for supporters of the feminist press to come out of the wood work and to encourage and lend support to the profession. By pushing boundaries, the Women’s Penny Paper encouraged nation wide coverage on an issue of sexism inside the Houses of Parliament which would have gone unnoticed without its influence. The Women’s Penny Press described the act of parliament, refusing their admission, as putting women in the “Ladies’ Cage”. The Reporters’ Gallery was able to become a national symbol for the institutionalised gender inequalities within Britain. Being based in London meant that after creating a storm through the press, as the Women’s Penny Weekly did makes republishing stories from other parts of the country a powerful tool in emphasising the importance of the support from other counties, as well as making people aware that the movement is not confined to the City of London. The Newcastle Daily Leader and the Bristol Times are two of the papers which stood out, due to their locations, because they spoke out in disagreement with the result of the application to the Press Gallery.
The coverage sparked by the Women’s Penny Paper brought into question the woman’s role in society, and with the evolution of the ‘New Woman’ was also able to spark controversy over whether women should be granted equality in the institution of the Press. The feminist press offers information on the feminist movement which would not have been made available in the other areas of the Press, which proves the very important purpose of the feminist periodicals. Prior to this controversy, the founder of the journal Woman and a female journalist, Amelia Lewis published in her first editorial the argument that the “Woman has had no representation as a Class, has had no public voice as a Class, has had no means of education as a Class, but has been deemed sufficiently provided for in our social system by being acted for by man.” This editorial is a very powerful piece in displaying the inequalities between men and women. To suggest that the woman is not represented in society is a very emotive statement and piece of propaganda to arm women, and men with the same ideology, for the fight for equality. This piece shows the awareness the female journalist has on the influence she can enforce on the public in taking action or having an opinion on a social movement. It is also a great source in displaying the use of journalism to present a specific message to a wide audience. The Press had been using periodicals to push forward ideologies and still enforces this today, the feminist movement picking up on this tool and implementing it shows women’s awareness as to how the world of journalism worked.
The founder of the Women’s Penny Paper, Muller, explained in an interview **** her goals for starting the periodical. Muller explains that “one of the things that always humiliated me very much was the way in which women’s interest and opinions were systematically excluded from the World’s Press” going onto reflect that she “realised of what vital importance it was that women should have a newspaper of their own through which to voice their thoughts.” Muller’s statement offers a first hand experience of a woman who was faced with living through the sexist Victorian culture, and a woman who attempted to close the gap of inequality by using the media to do so. In starting a feminist paper, Muller risked financial failure, as there was no guarantee that her paper would appeal to Victorian women. The success and sales of the paper suggest that the women of the time were ready for a female influence on the press.
The Women’s Penny Paper is not an isolated case of a feminist periodical using tactics and propaganda to push forward their own agenda and ideology. Fraser, Green and Johnston highlight the importance of the English Woman’s Journal, summarising its aim as enabling the “public discussion about the conditions in which women lived and worked” … in the attempt to “re-imagine the role of women in society in relation to principles of social justice.” The English Woman’s Journal aimed to influence public opinion on the subject of feminism and women. Another periodical named Woman, first published in 1887, set out with its first editorial justifying the need for a periodical with the nature of itself. The piece titled “To Our Readers” identifies that although there seems to be a lot of image based print in the press for women, what the press is missing is a weekly newspaper that will chronicle the various phases of the onward movement.” This paper ascertains that women of the late nineteenth century are no longer content looking at pictures of the ideal woman, or things that women should enjoy looking at. Woman coincides with the ideal of the New Woman, that women can be literate and active in the working world, that they are not restricted to the confines of their homes and status’ of wife or mother.
Feminist journalists seemed inclined on their first publications to differentiate themselves from “women’s pages”. “women’s pages” were sections of periodicals from the wider press which were supposedly aimed at women. These sections were no more than gossip columns, or they were simply pictures of feminine things which were expected to appeal to the Victorian woman. The Women’s Tribute directly states that they opposed to these “women’s pages” which are present in the wider press with their opening article:
“Another new paper! Hardly needed, some will say, when the dailies and the weeklies and the monthlies jostle each other, overlay and smother each other on the bookstalls . . . Yet surely there is a need among those women who desire the broadening and deepening of life . . . for a paper more adequate to the fulfilment of these ideals than any that exists at present. . . . No thoughtful woman can be satisfied with the position of women with regard to general journalism. Well qualified and competent writers are put aside or are asked for inferior work, and many matters which vitally concern women are not admitted into general journalism at all, or are discussed with a most undesirable flippancy. . . . ‘Why not have a special man’s paper?’ say some. When women are judges, Prime Ministers, barristers, juries, generals, soldiers, sailors, and candlestick-makers, that may very likely be necessary.”
The Women’s Tribute attempts to appeal to the women that have been content reading ‘women’s pages’. By asserting that no “thoughtful woman” would be content with the reading aimed at women in the mainstream media, the Women’s Tribute is using a form of propaganda in which it attempts to entice Victorian women, not just to buy the periodical, to look into the women’s movement. The feminist periodicals have the main aim of offering a source of information to women concerning the goals and aims to achieve equality amongst men. Therefore, for the feminist press to achieve this goal, it needs as many women as possible to stop being content with the gossip columns offered by the wider press and to instead become a consumer of a press who’s aim it is to liberate them.
Amelia Lewis was very vocal in dismissing this type of journalism, describing it as “a little gossip for the ladies.” Lewis’ description suggests that women’s magazines and “women’s pages” in existing weeklies and monthlies, were no more than an appeasement to make women feel like they were apart of the world of journalism and that they were a consumer of the press. Instead, the monthlies, weeklies and magazines were only fulfilling an old and quickly dating ideology that women were to be domesticated and that it was the male that would concern himself with the news. Lewis went as far to suggest that this journalism, by men, that was aimed at women was proof that men believed women were the “weaker sex”. In her editorial, “Woman and Gossip” Lewis suggests that a man’s thoughts are that women “‘are not interested in what interest’s man—in politics, literature, intellectual fruit of any kind; let them have something that shall be suited to them as a plaything’.” Yet, with the success of the Woman’s Penny Weekly’s refusal into the Press Gallery causing controversy nation wide, it would prove this pre-existing thought that Lewis points out to be false. From the Woman’s Penny Weekly’s received responses, in favour to their cause, from periodicals written and published by men, it would suggest that these feminist periodicals are just as important to, some of, the opposite sex as they are to women. Women & Progress identified this want for female representation amongst the male population. Women & Progress suggested that the “women’s pages” produced by male journalists offered a “breach of faith” to the reader as it was a “misrepresentation” of news which effected women. The criticism these “women’s pages” and magazines aimed at women faced by feminists came with a just cause. To not present to women the politics in which concerned them, or to give them an opportunity to get involved or be aware of the suffrage movements, is a false representation of news concerning women. Men bought newspapers to see what is going on locally, nationally and internationally, feminists believed they had the right to do the same, with news that was catered to themselves.
The “New Woman” was a term feared by many men, and some women, in Victorian England. The New Woman ideology meant that women could step into professions, be involved with politics and be independent to men. This new ideology threatened existing views and the balance of society at the time, making politics and news desirable to women was not the done thing. Blake terms this desire to keep women out of political affairs as the “normalised exclusion of women from politics of the period” This is why the feminist press was essential for society to evolve out of a time which suppressed women and their potential to contribute to the world of politics and the press. King and Plunkett counter this idea that the feminist press offered a new insight to journalism for Victorian women. King and Plunkett suggest that although the periodicals were run by women, with a feminist agenda, they still promoted the ideal of femininity which pre-existed them. March-Phillips agrees with this argument to an extent, recognising that feminist periodicals still contained advertisements aimed at the domesticated women and numerous pages on fashion. However, despite agreeing that it is probable that women still went to the mainstream periodicals for their news, March Phillips asserts that feminist publications such as Women were essential for women to keep on top of their news. The example of the Women’s Workers Conference, 1848, is a great example to this. The Conference was immensely important in establishing women’s rights in the work place yet the mainstream papers barely brought the news from the conference to the attention of their readers. Feminist papers such as Women were able to do so in every issue published.
Despite still containing some content which appeals to the ideal Victorian Woman, feminist periodicals offer more news, nationally and internationally, that and magazine or paper that had previously been aimed at women. The feminist press almost operated like an earlier clipping service. The periodicals would take news articles from other papers and add them accordingly by relevance to the periodicals to present the news to their reader, rather than writing their own articles on the same topics. Other periodicals at this time were operating under a similar system, for example The Shield. The Shield, first appearing in 1870, based its articles on the Contagious Diseases act. Logically, when reporting on this topic, articles concerning women and prostitution are very relevant. Not only did it include the news articles about arrests and such, but also involved opinion pieces on the subject. The feminist press was very aware that the cause it supported would be written about in different periodicals so pieces such as the ones The Shield would include would also be relevant to them as it offers a representation of women. The Women’s Penny Paper published an article; “What Some of Our Contemporaries Say of Us.” The article discusses what other journalists were reporting about the women’s movement and the journalism that came along with it. These strategies, of monitoring the publicity the feminist press was receiving to enable a response, went on well into the Edwardian period.
Many Feminist journals sourced the news which they published from other periodicals in the mainstream press. For example, extracts from the Pall Mall Gazette and the Times were often used in the Englishwoman’s Review as a news source entitled “Public Opinion on Questions Concerning Women.” The extracts and articles taken from other periodicals were used in order to spark debate, to praise or to critique the representation of the news in mainstream journalism. Although the thought of a feminist paper praising a mainstream periodical with the animosity which was clearly present between them, most feminist periodicals did praise other publications which brought to light news which is important to women. As, in the Women’s Penny Paper gave the Leeds Mercury “sole credit of having brought this story [of the strike of the Women Weavers at Alverthorpe] before the public.” This acknowledgment given to the wider press allows the feminist press to guide and encourage their audience on what to read and subsequently what not to read. Feminist periodicals, not only hinted to the reader what they should be reading, they also reflected what the reader wanted to read. Following the pattern of ‘New Journalism’, feminist periodicals included interviews within their contents. Interviews with professional women, such as journalists were often present, as it was this professional woman, the ‘New Woman’, which was arguably the back bone to the suffrage movement. Women and Work responded to an article published by the Evening Standard concerning the advancement of women’s work for not only it’s view on the matter, but also the substance.
The feminist press had an interesting relationship with the wider press. The feminist press used the wider press as both a source of praise and also an object to oppose and criticise. Women and Work suggested that the Evening Standard simply was using a “reckless style” and that the article was to “fill space” rather than to inform the reader. This expresses the different styles of journalism between the wider press and the feminist press. Feminist press was attempting to have meaningful content on the subject of women, to inform readers of the feminist movement and to cater to what women as a consumer wanted to read. The wider media publishing stories on women and topics that feminists concerned themselves with offered a different view point and often a different chronology to the events than what appealed to the feminist agenda. Jones puts forward the question, concerning Victorian Press, as to “whether the press reflected or created public opinion, whether in its myriad forms it represented shifts in public mood or whether it determined the direction and extent of those discernible changes in popular attitudes.” Jones’ argument asks the question as to whether the conflicting opinions between the feminist press and the wider press was a true representation of the social changing, and the conflicting opinions surrounding it, or whether it was the press itself forcing these opinions and social change? The social changes, of the ‘New Woman’ are undeniably present outside of the frameworks of the press. The Suffragette movement was not brought upon by a news article, but instead a change in how women wanted to fit into society. The feminist periodicals offer a platform to these social reforms to be wider circulated and to offer more people an opportunity to hear, possibly connect, with the opinions being put forward.
As mentioned previously, with the example of the Leeds Mercury being celebrated for bringing forth a feminist issue to the mainstream media, not all relations between the two press outlets were negative. Another example of this is the Woman’s Signal. An article published, by Clara Bewick, entitled “Woman’s Debt to the Daily Press” offers the praise: “With but few exceptions the Daily Press made the early steps of woman’s progress just as arduous and uncomfortable as the possession of its brilliant masculine intellects and the advantage of the situation enabled it to do.” Although Bewick is insinuating that the Daily Press operates in a misogynistic way, she is thankful to the paper for pushing women to take it upon themselves to create feminist periodicals to counter the journalism they display. Bewick is using this as a way to congratulate the feminist press in the differences they have managed to display in comparison to the mainstream press. Bewick goes on in this article to identify the change which feminist journalism has made on not only the press, but the press’ attitude towards female journalists: “Thus we find [the male newspaper writer] as generously appreciative today as he was scornfully doubtful yesterday, and nothing in the development of humanity is more marked than the change in attitude of the press towards woman.”
The feminist movement was gradually being accepted within the wider press as a validated form of journalism and news source. The Shield published an article titles “The Attitude of the Press”, in which it recognises the movement’s infiltration into “some of the best known of the London papers”. The Shield offers a sense of importance to the feminist press, recognising it is a part of public interest and that it offers important to the awakening of social reforms. The article offers a great defence to the feminist periodicals, recognising that the mainstream media has not recognised the complexity of issues it represents. Instead, the article insinuates that the wider press has instead ignored much of the feminist press’ work as it does not fit into the ideals of the long time social norms that the wider press is used to attiring to. The English Woman’s Journal puts forward its aim of wanting to “prove equally effective in calling the attention of the public to the wants and condition of women.” The English Woman’s Journal with this statement displays the goal of bringing women’s needs and opinions to the same level as that of a man when it comes to journalism and the press.
In many ways, the feminist press did not differ from the wider press. The goal to shape public opinion was present in both forms of journalism. However, the feminist press offered an insight for both women and men into the women’s movement and the momentum it was gaining through the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The publications in the feminist press offer a view of the difficulty women faced in the profession of journalism, with the responses to negative critique’s being published, the feminist press made its audience aware that they were not backing down from their cause. The feminist press should be admired for its willfulness to face the mainstream media in an effort to grant equality amongst the male and female reader. Amelia Lewis recognizes the struggle of going up against the mainstream media describing it as a “dangerous” venture in an editorial entitled “Lend a Hand”. Lewis recognizes in this editorial that a “new public” is forming, with the evolving society which the Victorians faced and the emergence of the ‘New Woman’, the audience the wider press were addressing was changing their own ideals. Feminist press is an example of how changes in society are reflected in the media. The feminist press came to be to appease the female reader who was tired of reading gossip columns or looking at images which where meant to appeal to her domestic nature. Lewis describes the idea of the changing woman with her aim for her periodical: “to go our own road . . . to plead for all social reform, to pursue inquiry into all social life, and to represent Woman’s place in every direction of it”
The press is a platform in which social movements can address a wide and diverse audience efficiently and quickly. The public arena in Victorian England was mainly male dominated, but towards the latter end of the century it is refreshing to follow the feminist press and to bear witness to the history of women’s rights through journalism. The feminist press highlights an important and exciting time for women in England, it offers hope and recognition to the advances being made by the suffrage movements to people who may have been blind the the advancements before these periodicals surfaced. The purpose of the feminist press is to yes shape public opinion, for example the use of particular wider periodicals to either encourage readership or to discourage. However, more importantly the use of the feminist press is to offer a platform for social change to be made public and to encourage discussion of the advancements, it this case for women’s rights. The press is a powerful tool which is still used to this day to implement social ideas and to mold opinions to suit those who control the press. Feminist press is an important part of English and Women’s history.