Women, Peace, and Welfare: A Suppressed History of Social Reform 1880-1920

Long before the earliest welfare systems were put into place, women were researching the conditions of social and economic life in Western nations, and their research would go on to inform the nascent welfare state in the early part of the twentieth century. In Women, Peace and Welfare, Ann Oakley delves deep into the forgotten work of these women, focusing on the period between 1880 and 1920, and uses their stories to bring together the histories of social reform, social science, welfare, and pacifism. Oakley shows how their efforts, connected through thriving transnational networks, came to be a source for the earliest attempts to build the modern welfare state—and she reveals how their powerful vision of a more humane way of living can continue to inspire us today.