‘Men Must be Educated and Women Must Do If: the National Federation (later Union) of Women Teachers and contemporary feminism 1910‐30

This article explores the feminist politics of the National Union of Women Teachers (NUWT) between 1910 and 1930. It argues that the Union was as much a part of contemporary feminism as educational trade unionism. The feminist teachers were conscious of the effect of the State on their lives and saw their enfranchisement as a way of obtaining a voice in the educational and political arena. The article explores their development as equal rights feminists in the 1920s and indicates the relevance of much of their educational and political views for modern feminists.