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SEX AND GENDER
Manuscript Sources from the Public Record Office

Part 2: Empire and Suffrage (FO, HO, LAB, LO, PREM, T and WO files)

"It is wonderful to have this material available. Unpublished Government sources concerning the Women's Suffrage issue have not been fully exploited."
Professor Harold L Smith, Department of History, University of Houston-Victoria

Parts 1 and 2 are devoted to the twin themes of Empire and Suffrage. The files break into four subject areas:

Nationality Law as it affects women
Nationality Law was the subject of controversy in Britain as early as 1914, with the passage of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act. These files enable scholars to examine the topic of Nationality Law in British relations with the dominions and in discussions concerning women, marriage and migration in the period after the First World War. Some examples can be found in:

- DO 35/1383: Minutes of Meetings of the Committee of officials on nationality questions set up by the Meeting of Commonwealth Prime Ministers, papers for 1943-1946
- DO 35/1384: Proposals for changes in the British Nationality Law: Joint memorandum by the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, papers for 1943-1946
- DO 35/1385-1387: Consultations with Dominions on proposals for reform of the British Nationality Law affecting the status of women, 1943-1946
- CAB 32/18: Nationality Committee. Imperial Conference, 1923
- CO 323/1525/4: Imperial Conference, 1937: Nationality: Status and rights of women; Six Point Group papers; interdepartmental committee on intra-imperial relations, 1937
- HO 45/20163: Nationality and Naturalisation: Home Office representation on Conference on the operation of Dominion Legislation and Merchant Shipping Legislation, 1929: Memoranda in connection with nationality matters; extra territorial effect of British Nationality Law; papers for 1927-1930
- CO 323/1083/4: Nationality of Married Women, 1930.

The condition of indigenous women, female colonial subjects and women of colour
The imperial state dealt with a variety of subjects including female genital mutilation, slavery, veiling, religious practices and customary or personal law in the colonies and protectorates. The files provide a number of interesting case studies such as Kikuyu circumcision ceremonies in Kenya, the work of the Colonial Advisory Committee on Social Hygiene, and moves to abolish brothels and suppress the white slave trade. The files highlight the problems of an essentially male dominated Colonial Office in facing up to issues of gender which they clearly struggled to comprehend. Several files point to the Colonial Offices reluctance to appoint women as much needed advisors. There is particularly good material in a number of Colonial Office files:

- CO 323/1067/2-4: Status of indigenous women and children: East Africa, 1930
- CO 323/1067/5: Status of indigenous women and children: West Africa, 1930
- CO 323/1067/6: Status of indigenous women and children: reports on population, health and welfare, 1930
- CO 323/1071/8: Slavery of Women, 1930-1931
- CO 323/1083/10: British Social Hygiene Council; venereal disease; participation in International Colonial Exhibition; papers and grants, 1930
- CO 323/1111/17: Colonial Office: appointment of adviser on womens affairs, 1930-1931
- CO 323/1121/12: Labour: employment of women and children in East Africa, 1931
- CO 323/1439/1: League of Nations enquiry into the status of women, 1937-1938
- CO 533/392/1: Kenya: Kikuyu Central Association: Political Activities, 1929
- CO 533/392/10: Kenya: Operation on Kikuyu Girl (Circumcision), 1929
- CO 533/392/11: Kenya: Operation on Kikuyu Girl. Parliamentary sub-file, 1929
- CO 533/394/10-11: Kenya: Kikuyu Circumcision Ceremony, 1930. (2 files; Parts I & II)

The second file includes material on the Conference of Governors of East African Dependencies (Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda) 1930; the Paper circulated by the Governor of Kenya; extracts from the East African Medical Journal, October 1929 and from the Medical Journal for 1926; also as an Appendix: Memorandum by Native Affairs Department, Kenya.
- CO 533/418/2: Kenya: Kikuyu Circumcision Ceremony, 1932 (especially the Church of Scotland: Memorandum prepared by the Kikuyu Mission Council on Female Circumcision and related correspondence and papers)
- CO 822/1136: Witchcraft legislation in Uganda, 1956
- CO 822/1137: Legislation for control of female circumcision in Kenya, 1956-1957
- CO 822/1139: Advancement of African women in Kenya, 1954-1955
- CO 859/123/5: Status of women in the colonies: customs, marriage and employment, 1944
- CO 873/373: Wai-Hai-Wei: footbinding, proposed proclamation, 1913

Reports of the Native Commissioners for 1900-1901 in Rhodesia, with information on their journeys through different regions and villages, allegations against certain companies for their poor treatment of natives, and observations on local customs, can be found in various Dominions Office files, for instance:

- DO 119/586: South Africa: Rhodesia. Reports of the Native Commissioners for 1900.
- DO 119/587: South Africa: Rhodesia. Reports from Barotseland; legislation to curb prostitution; ordinance regarding 'lung sickness' in cattle; and report on the 'lobolo' system in southern Rhodesia, 1900.
- DO 119/588: South Africa: Rhodesia. Reports of the Native Commissioners for 1901.

The extension of suffrage and other civil and political rights to women at home and in the dominions
Womens enfranchisement became an issue as dominions became nations and, in the late imperial era, as decolonisation loomed in the dependent empire. A central core of files address the womens suffrage question in Britain, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa. Indian womens suffrage became a big issue in the late 1920s and early 1930s, in the high level negotiations leading to the Government of India Act of 1935. Additional files cover colonies such as Bermuda, the Bahamas and Zanzibar. For comparative purposes there are a few files on suffrage in Bolivia, Cuba and Norway. Some highlights include:

- HO 45/13020/474274 Parts I and II: Equal Franchise Committee, 1927-1928
- CO 37/296/5: Bermuda: Constitutional change: The Womens Suffrage Act, 1944; qualifications for the franchise reconsidered, 1944-1945
- CO 323/1177/1: Deputation to Secretary of State from the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship to discuss questions affecting women, 1932
- CO 323/1365/10: Resolutions from unofficial bodies concerning womens rights, 1936
- CO 323/1632/11: Status of women: League of Nations enquiry, 1939
- CO 323/1632/12: Womens rights: resolutions from unofficial bodies, 1939
- CO 323/1694/2: Extension of the franchise to women in the colonies, 1939
- CO 822/1472: Zanzibar: extension of the franchise to women, 1959
- CO 847/9/5: Africa: Status of women in Africa, 1937
- CO 847/11/12: Africa: Status of women of native races, 1938
- CO 847/14/11: Africa: Status of women of native races, 1939
- CO 1031/2140: Bahamas: votes for women, 1957-1959
- CO 1031/3082: Bahamas: extension of the franchise to women, 1960-1961
- CO 1031/3541: Bahamas: female suffrage movement, 1960-1961
- CO 1032/98: Constitutional development: terminology; use and meaning of terms self-government and independence, 1956
- CO 1032/103-105: Suffrage arrangements in Colonial Territories, 1954-1957
- CO 1032/156: Voting qualifications in the Colonies, 1957-1959
- CO 1032/265: Suffrage arrangements in Colonial Territories, 1960-1962
- DO 35/349/10: Status of native women in Colonies and Protectorates, 1930
- DO 35/350/1: Status of native women in Colonies and Protectorates, 1930-1935
- FO 371/67827: Liberia: female suffrage in Liberia, 1947
- FO 371/90795: Cuba: Law concerning equal civil rights of women in Cuba, 1951
- FO 371/97702: Bolivia: establishment of universal suffrage, 1952
- FO 141/511/14083: Political views and activities of Egyptian Women, 1921-1928
- CO 733/169/10: Status of Women in Palestine, 1929
- T 172/106: Deputations from Womens Tax Resistance League, 1913
- T 172/110: Womens Suffrage: Deputation from Working Women Suffragists, 1913
- PREM 1/40: India: Deputation on Dominion Status for India: material by Annie Besant

The obligations of the UK as a member of international bodies and as a party to international treaties
Womens issues were international as well as imperial issues. The files allow scholars to explore such topics as prostitution and trafficking, the control of venereal disease, education, and the pay and working conditions of women. Particular files concern the status of women at home and abroad in the colonies. Other material covers legislative attempts to regulate and improve conditions for women.

- CO 323/1365/3: Missionaries: Roman Catholic Training of Missionaries for Educational Work in the Colonies, 1936
- CO 859/1594: UN Slavery Convention, papers for 1960-1962
- FO 371/145419-145424: UN: Status of Women Commission, 1959, especially replies to questionnaires; good responses regarding Tanganyika, Gambia, Nigeria and the Cameroons
- FO 371/178305: UN: Human Rights: political freedom for women, 1964
- FO 371/189848-189950: UN seminars on Human Rights in Developing Countries: papers on women in public life, human rights and apartheid. The third of these files has good material on Apartheid.
- FO 371/189951-189953: UN Commission on Status of Women, 1966

We would like to thank Professor Ian Christopher Fletcher, Department of History, Georgia State University, in Atlanta, for all his help and advice with this project.



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