Married Women's Association
The Married Women's Association (MWA) was a British women's organisation founded by Edith Summerskill and Juanita Frances in 1938.[1]
Summerskill became the association's first president. Its original aims were to promote financial equality between husband and wife, to give mothers and children a legal right to a share in the family home, to secure equal guardianship rights for both parents, and to extend the National Insurance Act to give equal provision for women.[1]
The association published Wife and Citizen from 1945 to 1951. Prominent members included Vera Brittain, Juanita Frances, Doreen Gorsky, Helena Normanton and Lady Helen Nutting. In 1952 Helena Normanton's evidence to the Royal Commission on Marriage and Divorce precipitated a split in the association, leading to the establishment of the Council of Married Women.[1]
Its papers are held at the Women's Library.[2]
References
- ^ a b c David Doughan; Peter Gordon (2014). Dictionary of British Women's Organisations, 1825-1960. Routledge. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-136-89770-2.
- ^ Married Women's Association