National Union of Women Teachers
Predecessor | National Union of Teachers |
---|---|
Founded | 27 April 1904 |
Dissolved | 1961 |
Headquarters | 41 Cromwell Road, South Kensington |
Location |
|
Members | 21,000 (1920)[1] |
Publication | The Woman Teacher[1] |
The National Union of Women Teachers (NUWT) was a trade union representing women
History
Women teachers in the National Union of Teachers (NUT) first formed a Ladies' Committee in 1896. In 1900, this became a standing committee, consisting of the women members of the executive of the union, and some male executive members in an "ex officio" role. However, the committee focused on recruitment drives and, for example, in 1906 refused to sign a petition for women's suffrage. The union's journal, Board Teacher, was opposed to equal pay for women teachers, but the Ladies' Committee was unwilling to campaign on the issue. This inspired a small number of members to form the Equal Pay League in April 1904.[2][3]
The main founders of the league were L. E. Lane, a London-based teacher who had previously campaigned to equalise payments from the union's benevolent and orphanage funds, and Joseph Tate, based in Birmingham, who became its first honorary secretary. Other founder members included
In 1906 the organisation was renamed the National Federation of Women Teachers, and it adopted a new policy of opposing increases in membership dues for women, on the grounds that they received lower benefits than male members. It successfully sponsored Isabel Cleghorn's campaign to become vice-president of the NUT in 1909. Failing to persuade the NUT to support women's suffrage, many federation members were founders of the Women Teachers' Franchise Union in 1912.[2][3] Ethel Froud became honorary secretary of the federation in 1913, the position being renamed "general secretary" in 1917; she remained in post until 1940.[4]
By 1916, the federation's membership had grown significantly, and its members had become increasingly frustrated with continuing male control of the NUT. It decided to prepare to break away from the NUT after the conclusion of the
The NUWT was a
Membership of the union peaked at 8,500 in the mid-1920s, and thereafter gradually declined.[5] In 1961, when equal pay had been achieved, the union wound up.[8] Members either joined the NUT or the Association of Assistant Mistresses, while the anti-feminist National Association of Schoolmasters arranged for the formation of a new Union of Women Teachers.[9]
Presidents of the union included Emily Phipps, Agnes Dawson, Nancy Stewart Parnell and Nan McMillan.
Secretaries
- 1904: Joseph Tate
- 1913: Ethel Froud
- 1941: Muriel Pierotti
Collections
The archive of the National Union of Women Teachers is held in the Institute of Education Archives at University College London; a partial list can be found on the online catalogue. Some material from the collection has been digitised and is available to view online at UCL's Digital Collections website.
Published histories
- Kean, Hilda, Deeds Not Words: The lives of suffragette teachers, Pluto, (London, 1989).
- Phipps, Emily, A History of the National Union of Women Teachers, National Union of Women Teachers, (London, 1928).
- Pierotti, A.M The Story of the National Union of Women’s Teachers, (London, 1963).
See also
- Equal pay for women
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1136897702.
- ^ ISBN 978-1136094767.
- ^ ISBN 9781349544912.
- required.)
- ^ ISBN 0719027594.
- ISBN 0856331007.
- ISBN 978-0-8020-6785-2.
- ISBN 978-1-136-89770-2.
- ^ Mike Ironside and Roger Seifert, Industrial Relations in Schools, p.92