Introduction: British Civilization Studies and the “Woman Question”

This is the first themed issue in the Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique’s twenty-eight-year history to be entirely devoted to what was once called “the woman question”. At its heart lies a simple yet puzzling question: why is it that, after over two centuries of campaigning for “women’s rights”, women remain concentrated in the lowest paid forms of work, sex and gender-based violence persists, and women’s bodies and identities remain the grounds upon which racist, imperialist and religious ideologies are frequently played out? In providing detailed case-studies through which to reflect on this question, our contributors reveal the plurality of objects and methods that characterise the rich fields of women’s and gender studies research. We hope therefore that they will contribute to furthering the dissemination of interest in women and gender studies amongst the next generation of British civilisation scholars