Edgbastonia

In May 1881 Edgbastonia was delivered for the first time to the homes of the wealthy inhabitants of Edgbaston.

It claimed: ‘The contents will be of local interest, or local production, and […] they shall be of a healthy moral tone, and be altogether non-political and unsectarian.' What did this this suburban magazine reveal about attitudes to women?

In June 1900 we find women presented in three contrasting ways. First we read a story about a secretary who wants equal pay for doing the same work as a man, and is urged by her employer’s wife to be content with what she has.

The secretary reflects: ‘Three in the family, and she has a housekeeper, a governess, and five servants, and never gets up to breakfast, and does nothing in the world but think about her health and read the new books – and she talks about contentment to me!’

KEYWORDS: Women, Media, Suffrage, Edgbaston, Birmingham

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