The Friends of the Manchester Centre for Regional History

warmly invite you to:

Cartoon illustrating Mary Stocks’ article on the foundation of the Manchester and Salford Mothers’ Clinic

Contested Territory:  

The birth control movement in the 1920s with particular reference to Manchester and Salford 

By Clare Debenham

“The birth control movement was strongly linked to the suffrage and I argue it too was essentially a feminist movement.  Indeed Mrs Cooke wrote in their magazine, ‘What does it avail a woman that she has the franchise if she cannot call her body her own and is at the mercy of her husband’s desires and wishes’.

 The birth controllers, though not as spectacular as the suffragettes, had to contest physical  and emotional territory as well as take on the medical profession and politicians. This talk explores the tactics that they employed to locate premises and win the confidence of working class mothers.

Mary Stocks and Charis Frankenburg founded one of the country’s first voluntary birth control clinics in Salford and played an important part in the national campaign. Marie Stopes also maintained strong links with Manchester”.

Please join us for this free talk and refreshments on 

Thursday 18^th October 2012

at

6.30pm

in

Room E223, John Dalton Building,

Manchester Metropolitan University,

Oxford Road, Manchester, M15 6BH

For more information, please see our website www.mcrh.mmu.ac.uk  or email Fiona, f.cosson@mmu.ac.uk

October 10th, 2012 - 14:07pm