Political Woman

Originally published in 1974, Political Woman explains why women had participated so little in the British political elite at the time. To many, the question was familiar and the facts plain. Melville Currell in an objective way analyses and attempts to answer the question, -Why so few?-

The book begins with a brief survey of women-s political activity before enfranchisement. It continues by tracing the assimilation of women into the various levels of political activism, as -the late comers- to the political scene, and compares them with their immediate predecessors, working class men.

The author looks for answers in two areas to the basic question posed in the book. She had conducted empirically based studies of the relatively few women activists, and analysed the more general factors including political and sociological considerations. The women she studied are those who had ever been elected to Parliament, and the aspirants, the -volunteers- i.e. the Prospectiv