Women, Clubs and Associations in Britain

A club is a weapon used by savages to keep white women at a distance. George Augustus Sala, a founder member of the Savage ClubOf the many and varied groups of people excluded from clubs and associations, the most commonly discriminated against is women. They have been excluded not only from West End clubs, including military clubs, but from working men's clubs and from sporting clubs. In retaliation, many women in Britain have not only set up their own clubs and associations, often though not always along the lines of male clubs, but have striven to break down resistance to their joining men's clubs on an equal footing. Women, Clubs and Associations in Britain is a very readable survey not only of the historical background of women's clubs, drawing on a wide range of published and unpublished sources, but of associations like the Women's Institutes and Townswomen's Guilds. It is intended in the first instance for the general reader, but it will also be of use to students of social and women's history. The authors also look at clubs and associations for girls such as the Guides and the YWCA. It includes women organizing for voluntary service outside the State and their mixed relationships with men's clubs, for example, Rotary. And of course, there is the vexed and volatile matter of women's, men's and mixed sports clubs.