The decline of feminism in England during the 1930s and 1940s has been the subject of numerous historical investigations. Jane Lewis (1980), Olive Banks (1986), Johanna Alberti (1989) and Martin Pugh (1990), have all considered the activities of women's societies which demanded equal rights for women, including equal pay, equal opportunities and an equal moral standard for men and women. These studies suggest that the feminist movement, understood to represent political feminist groups, was unable to capitalise on the triumph of the suffrage campaign. Although legislation enacted during the 1920s did improve the position of women in society, it was clear by the 1930s that the struggle for women's equality was far from over. As a result, the 1930s and 1940s have often been characterised as a period which witnessed one of feminism's deepest troughs, the era as a whole assumed as having an "anti-progressive and reactionary character".

This thesis examines the ways in which childbearing women living in poverty made sense of their lives and experiences. Based in the West Midlands, in an area of urban decay and major inequalities in health, the research focused on the lives of 25 women during their childbirth experience. The theoretical framework is feminist poststructuralism and throughout the study, I recognise that there is no single, unified woman's voice, and no universal solution to the problem of pregnancy and poverty. The thesis examines the different ways in which individual women experience pregnancy and poverty. The research draws on a range of ethnographic methods including interviews and participant observation. The fieldwork was undertaken over a two year period mainly through meetings with women in their own homes but also at the GP surgery and other more public places. The data discussed in the thesis illustrate the private stresses and strains of poverty related to how women cope with pregnancy and the demands of small children. I was especially interested in how childbearing women living in poverty were alike and how they were different. The women who contributed to this study shared a well developed sense of responsibility, doing what was right and putting their children first. They worked hard to be seen as respectable, and balanced the needs of their children with the demands of a life dominated by poverty. I considered the networks of support and the importance of grandmothers in some women's lives. I have considered the changing and varied relationships that women had with the men in their lives and the different ways in which they resolved conflict in their relationships. Some women were determined to go it alone and to rid themselves of the men in their lives. For over half the women in the sample, domestic violence was an everyday reality of their lives and I examined the similarities and differences in their experiences. I have also found evidence of the adverse effect of some midwives' attitudes towards these women. Beliefs based on stereotypes and prejudice meant that women living in poverty sometimes experienced less than adequate care. The thesis concludes by making recommendations for further research and for improving midwifery practice for the benefit of women.

The relationship between women's contraceptive experiences and the social relations in which they take place has been little explored to date, either empirically or theoretically. The importance of such an approach lies in its ability to perceive women's contraceptive concerns, capacities and problems, as socially and politically derived rather than as the consequence of individual/couple/group inadequacies. The position of women in society is central to this perspective. The search for a theoretical framework which allows for visibility of the social relations between women and men, and the potential for explanation, is as significant in this research process as the gathering of empirical data. A small scale qualitative study was undertaken to explore the experiences of women with sexuality and contraception. The decisions and actions women took regarding contraception, the problems they encountered and the information they received provided the focus for data collection and analysis. In—depth, semi—structured interviews with a random sample of fifty women postgraduate full—time students at the University of Warwick were conducted in the Summer Term of 1977. The sample was deliberately highly selective for motivation, access to information, alternative career possiblities and experience with contraception. The purpose of this selection was to highlight the experiences and difficulties with contraception faced by even those women in a relatively good social position, and thereby to indicate the problems in contracepting likely to affect all women. Data analysis revealed three major areas of social relations to influence the conditions in which women made decisions and took actions: first, the arena of personal sexual relationships; second, the quantity and quality of information received about sexuality and contraception; and third, the field of contraceptive health care services encountered. The sex—based division engendering social relations of male domination and female subordination were seen to be operable in each of these areas. The social and political relations of this sexual hierarchy emerged as central to the understanding of the experiences of women in the study with sexuality and contraception.

The ways in which women experience and narrate their journeys into first time motherhood is explored through a focus on narrative construction and reconstruction. The unique positioning of childbearing - at the interface between the biological and the social - both shapes expectations and renders experiences which do not conform to idealised notions of motherhood, diflicult to voice. The 17 participants in this study were all white, working women, who were expecting their first child. In depth interviews were carried out on three separate occassions, both antenatally and postnataily, over approximately a year. The longitudinal dimensions of the study enabled narrative trajectories to be collected and strategic construction and presentation of narratives to be explored. The movement in and out of the worlds of work and home was found to provide different reference points from which to make sense of, and narrate, a shifting sense of self. Narrative has not previously been used to explore women's experiences of transition to first time motherhood. Gathering women's narratives over time enabled different subjectivities to be explored and narrative layers to be discerned. The shifts made visible by this approach revealed the ways in which transition to motherhood is socially constructed and experienced within the context of differing professional and personal time frames. Within these competing time frames epistemological and ontological shifts take place. Eventually, epistemological and ontological security led women to challenge assumptions around mothering with which they may have previously collaborated. Feeling able to cope led to the voicing, retrospectively, of past difficult experiences. Narratives were reconstructed and professional constructions of 'normal' transition to motherhood, questioned. The research suggests that needs can remain unvoiced in a context where diverse mothering experiences are unjformly measured. The implications of the research for policy and practise, which is based on normative preoccupations, is considered.

This study analyses socio-legal issues pertaining to sexuality and reproduction within the context of the realities and lives of Kenyan women and in particular, Kenyan adolescent girls. The study explores the regulatory mechanisms relating to adolescent sexuality and fertility, and examines how these have been historically constructed both to limit and to open up the knowledge and choices of adolescent girls regarding their sexuality and reproduction. It examines the historical nature of the actors and the regulatory mechanisms (within the specific contexts), how these define the status of women within their families and communities, and their ability to regulate their sexuality and fertility. It unearths the intricate nature of the interrelationship between the actors and regulatory mechanisms, and develops a framework of analysis for this task. The study argues that regulation of adolescent sexuality and fertility is complex and multi-dimensional. Thus efforts at regulation must consider the nature of sexuality, its construction, the gender relationships, and the power relationships between the social actors. The study concludes that more qualitative studies that focus on the regulation of adolescent sexuality and fertility, the plural nature of law and its relationship with other non-legal forms of social regulation are crucial, if the complexity of this process is to be better understood.

The first chapter of this thesis examines the factors that assist and impede disclosure of homosexuality. Factors have been divided into intrapersonal, interpersonal and societal/environmental categories for convenience of reporting. However, it is recognised that these factors do not exist in isolation of each other. The second chapter investigates the experience of gay fathers who have disclosed their homosexuality to their children. Analysis of interviews carried out with gay fathers suggests a model of disclosure where fathers achieve a realisation of their homosexuality followed by a desire to be honest about it. Fathers then disclosed their sexuality to their children. The effects on the child, on the father and on the father/child relationship are discussed. The impact of supportive others who are important in the lives of the father and children seem to be paramount to a successful outcome. Clinical implications of this study are discussed along with the study’s limitations and ideas for future research. The third chapter examines the experience of a gay man who became a father via donor insemination. Salient factors related to this method of fathering, being gay, and being later contacted by the child are discussed. The final chapter contains the authors’ reflections on a personal experience that impeded disclosure of his own homosexuality. The author entered reparative therapy holding the belief that he did not want to be gay. Following therapy failure, the author reached a position of self acceptance. Implications for clinicians are discussed.

The thesis invites women to voice their perceptions and experiences on being lone mothers, in receipt of Income Support and what 'support' means to them in their daily lives as carers of pre-school children. This qualitative study is set against firstly, the backdrop of the increasing numbers of lone mothers and their reliance on income support. Also prevalent was a negative discourse around lone motherhood. Secondly, lone mothers were encountering the consequences of a restructuring of social and welfare policy and practice, with the changing boundaries between public and private responsibilities impacting on their daily lives. Thirdly, within this changing socio-economic and political landscape, both neo-liberal and 'third way' governments identify kinship as the appropriate resource for families in need. The study draws data and analysis from the perceptions and experiences of, initially, thirty-three women in five focus groups and more particularly, from thirtyseven lone mothers on Income Support. The findings of the thesis highlight the qualitative difference between alone and not alone, lone mothers. This key, but previously underresearched distinction, is shown to turn on the quality and consistency of support. It is the degrees of availability or lack of social and material support which is found to be crucial in mediating, moderating or amplifying the aloneness of the lone mother. The research illustrates how this qualitative difference in women's lives cannot be captured within categories of quantitative data. Emphasised is how different forms of support serve as gateways through which other forms of support are accessed. What is argued is that those lacking support may face being multiply disadvantaged and experience cumulative levels of support deprivation which formal support may do little to alleviate. Lastly, while all forms of support are identified as being mutually reinforcing, child-care appears to be particularly pivotal. As a central gateway to accessing other support, it directly enhances well being and the capability to care.

An increase in spinsterhood is one aspect of recent changes in family and household formation. Family change has been the focus of much academic and political attention, however there is little contemporary research on singleness. This thesis explores the experiences and meanings of contemporary spinsterhood, and considers the extent to which these have altered in the context of recent social change. Quantitative analysis of the British Household Panel Survey demonstrates that recent cohorts of men and women are experiencing longer periods of singleness prior to the formation of any residential partnership. This thesis explores the life histories of thirty-seven nevermarried single women aged between thirty-five and eighty-three, an age range permitting a consideration of continuities and changes in experiences of singleness over time. This sample included mothers who had 'opted into' solo motherhood via artificial insemination and adoption. The thesis utilised narrative analysis to consider participants' experiences of singleness in relation to social networks and caring relationships, education and employment experiences, and gendered subjectivities. The role of social and institutional contexts in shaping these women's choices and experiences is also considered. This exploration of the actualities of contemporary women's lives found that gender and partnership status continue to structure the possibilities and strategies available to women in both the private and the public sphere. However, their varying experiences also demonstrate significant material and cultural changes, enabling wider opportunities for some. These changes have implications for the practices and discursive possibilities for contemporary spinsters. This thesis considers the extent to which the new discourses and practices emerging in the context of wider social change contribute to a dismantling of normative female gender identities predicated on marriage and motherhood.

This study seeks to make a contribution to the field of population studies by throwing some light on the explanation of fertility change in developing countries. It hopes to do this by investigating the role of the family and its structure in explaining fertility attitudes and behaviour in Jordan. Some of the causes - at the level of intermediate variables - of regional variations in fertility levels and fertility preferences in Jordan are examined. The study tries to analyse several aspects of change in the family system in Jordan: social, economic kin-relationships and wealth flow directions within the family. Also, fertility attitudes are examined in relation to contrasting social contexts. It is assumed that fertility decline will be the result of certain changes in the family's internal and external social and economic structure. In order to test this assumption it is necessary to examine the nature of internal and external family relationships in terms of the following five dimensions: a) the scale and character of mutual economic obligations (or feelings of financial responsibility) which exist within the families under study b) the nature of the family budget (to what extent it is a common budget or one divided into separate units related to individual wage earners) c) relations between the father and his children in terms of obedience and societal and family norms (even when the family is geographically separated as a result of migration) d) the coherence and structure of the family system (is it a closed or open nuclear family or does it still have elements of the extended family?), and women's roles and status within the family e) wealth flow direction and its relation to power structure within the family. Results suggest that changes in the family's internal and external social and economic structure have a significant influence on fertility attitudes which, in turn, tell that fertility decline is an outcome of family change.

The thesis describes a program of research that investigated whether women's perceptions of intergroup conflict between men and women impact upon their interpersonal relationships with men. A series of three studies focus on two groups of women: women who perceive a high amount of gender-based discrimination and women who perceive relatively little gender-based discrimination. Unexpectedly, despite significant differences between the two groups in terms of their social indentities as women and their gender ideologies, there were no differences between them with respect to the nature and extent of their work, platonic, and intimate relationships with men. Two psychological mechanisms that may enable a woman to prevent perceptions of intergroup discrimination from impacting upon her intimate relationships are examined: the exceptional case and dissociative mechanisms. Although no support was found for the dissociative mechanism, strong support was found for the exceptional case mechanism. Women who perceive a high amount of discrimination, compared to those who perceived relatively little, are more likely to view their partners as exceptional in terms of their support of women's issues. Moreover, it was demonstrated in Study 3 that the male partners of these women are actually exceptional in terms of their support, as well as their negotiation, of women's issues.