A Matter of Public Interest
Press Coverage of the Outfits of Women MPs 1918–1930
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7936782 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Krista Cowman (0000-0002-1318-9450, University of Lincoln, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Publication date | 2020-10-06 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Open Library of Humanities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2056-6700 • E-ISSN: 2056-6700 |
| Publisher | Open Library of the Humanities (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.16995/olh.583 |
| OpenAlex | W3092348091 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 13 |
This paper considers media coverage of the clothes chosen by early women MPs. Opening with the very recent case of public outrage sparked by the dress choice of Labour MP Tracy Brabin, it suggests that a disproportionate attention to what women wear in Parliament rather than what they do there is a longstanding phenomenon. Looking at examples from the 1920s, the first decade of women MPs, it demonstrates how political women have consistently been described in terms of their appearance much more than their policies. The article considers the extent to which a tendency to present women MPs as a unified group added to this, and the challenges of agreeing on a suitable feminine parliamentary dress code as well as a landmark legal case which viewed their dress as a matter of legitimate public interest
Clothing · Dress code · Epistemology · Media studies · Outrage · Parliament · Phenomenon · Political science · Politics · Public interest · Sociology · Computer Science · Fashion and Cultural Textiles · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Law
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |