Were there opportunities for women to participate in public life in Hanoverian Britain? In which areas? Was it easier for elite or plebeian women to particpate in the public sphere? Did the rhetoric of separate spheres work in reality?

Key Texts

• Elaine Chalus, Elite Women in English Political Life 
• Linda Colley, Britons
• Paul Custer, 'Refiguring Jemima: gender, work and politics in Lancashire', Past and Present, 195 (2007)
• Kathryn Gleadle and Sarah Richardson (eds), Women in British Politics: The Power of the Petticoat
• Gary Kelly, Revolutionary Feminism
• Sarah Knott and Barbara Taylor (eds), Women, Gender and Enlightenment
• Judith S. Lewis, Sacred to Female Patriotism, Gender, Class and Politics in Georgian Britain
• Amanda Vickery, Power, Privilege and Politics