Entre engagement social et militantisme politique :l’action bénévole des femmes au sein de l’Association de Secours et Maison de l’Aide à Liverpool (1890-1907)

Abstract

Multiple philanthropic societies that intended to develop a charitable solution to the “Great Social Evil” were created in Liverpool at the end of the 19th century as a result of the growing popularity of Christian principles advocating for collective responsibility in the struggle against prostitution and intemperance. While the demand for volunteers was increasing in the 1890s, a large number of women got involved in these societies as a form of collective commitment. Voluntary work enabled them to develop two forms of social capital, bonding and bridging, respectively consisting in the extension of their own social networks and in the social responsibility and commitment towards the women whom they “rescued”. In the Liverpool Rescue Society and House of Help, founded in 1890, led by women until 1907 and catering for destitute women, prostitutes and former female prisoners, women had decision-making power and used the society’s annual reports to express political claims until 1894. Voluntary work thus led them to a form of activism for women’s rights which abruptly stopped from 1895 due to economic constraints and the redefinition of philanthropic strategies. Through the micro historical analysis of this society from 1890 to 1907, this study examines voluntary work as a form of social responsibility, mutual aid, freedom and political socialisation for women. From the cross-perspectives of the history of philanthropy and women’s and gender history, it measures the dynamism of female volunteering, its social and political impacts as well as its limits in Liverpool from 1890 to 1907.

Keywords

• volunteering
• women
• philanthropy
• Liverpool
• 19th century