Organisations, Associations and Societies

The history of gender in the twentieth century can be broadly traced within the timeline of activism and work of various pro-suffrage and feminist groups. The material in Gender: Identity and Social Change contains a vast array of material from organisations that were dedicated to improving the lives of men and women across three different continents.

[Six Point Group: 50th Anniversary Dinner]. © Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America


The Schlesinger Library at Harvard University offers an immensely detailed insight into the workings of one of the earliest feminist campaign organisations in the United Kingdom; the Six Point Group. The correspondence of Hazel Hunkins Hallinan (see the early Suffrage involvement of Hallinan in the United States) - the secretary of the organisation in the late 1960s and 1970s - highlights the key interests of the Six Point Group, whether it be the parliamentary debates on better abortion rights for women or the passing of the Equal Pay Act by the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, Barbara Castle. Interest in the work of the Six Point Group by prolific feminist activists can also be found in the resource due to the correspondence that Hallinan had with Vera Brittain and Jessie Street. Despite its activism in the late-twentieth century, however, the Six Point Group struggled to recruit new members, and these difficulties are evident from administrative material and correspondence from its local branches. Nevertheless, the Six Point Group reached a considerable milestone in its campaign for women’s rights and users can see how its forty-fifth and fiftieth-year anniversaries were celebrated in considerable style at the House of Lords.

By the time the Six Point Group had dissolved in 1983, women’s suffrage in the United Kingdom had been granted for over 50 years. Material from the John Rylands Library regarding the Parliamentary Committee for Women’s Suffrage (see Parliamentary Committee for Woman Suffrage: Constitution and rules of the society) reveals an insight into the early developments and campaigns for women gaining the right to vote. The material covers the developing pro-suffrage sentiments of some Members of Parliament towards the end of the nineteenth century, as typified by the annual reports of the committee and the pro-suffrage parliamentary speech of Sir Richard Temple.

Conversations about membership and establishing localized iterations were also had by the National Organization for Changing Men (NOCM), whose 10th Men and Masculinity Conference material, 'Voices from the heart', Missouri, , © Michigan State University Librariesmaterial comes from Michigan State University. Users can see how NOCM attempted to tackle a number of different issues concurrently, including men’s health awareness, homophobia and sexual harassment, by consulting the material from the country-wide ‘task groups’. Indeed, due to its loosely organised nature, NOCM tried to provide a sense of cohesiveness through the launch of its newsletter BROTHER and the yearly Men and Masculinity conferences. The developing interests of NOCM and the discussions about the formation of its identity can also be consulted in the minutes of the organisation’s council meetings. The organisation still operates today, albeit under the new name of the National Organization for Men Against Sexism; incorporating one of its founding key tenets firmly into its title.