France Between the Wars

Sian Reynolds challenges the prevailing assumption that women had little influence or power in France during the interwar period. She combines extensive empirical research with revealing insights into France's political history and women's history. Acknowledgements, Abbreviations, INTRODUCTION: WRITING ABOUT INTER-WAR FRANCE: THE TEXTBOOK AS TEXT, 1 DEMOGRAPHY AND ITS DISCONTENTS, 2 FROM KINDERGARTEN TO YOUTH HOSTEL: GROWING UP BETWEEN THE WARS, 3 ‘A SLIP OF A GIRL CAN FLY IT’: THE FALSE PROMISES OF AVIATION, 4 WHAT DID PEOPLE DO ALL DAY? THE SEXUAL DIVISION OF LABOUR IN FRANCE BETWEEN THE WARS, 5 FROM THE DEPRESSION TO THE STRIKES: OUVRIERS AND OUVRIÈRES, 6 THE TRUCE BETWEEN THE SEXES? THE POLITICS OF SOCIAL INTERVENTION FROM THE GREAT WAR TO THE POPULAR FRONT, 7 THE PERMEABILITY OF PUBLIC LIFE: MAINSTREAM AND ALTERNATIVE POLITICS, 8 WAR AND PEACE: ASSENT AND DISSENT, 9 RIGHTS AND THE REPUBLIC: THE INTER-WAR YEARS AS ANTECHAMBER TO DEMOCRACY?, CONCLUSION, Notes, Sources and bibliography, Chronology, Index