Olive Banks (1923–2006): an appreciation

Abstract

This Appreciation of Olive Banks (1923–2006) draws upon her memoir published in Women’s History Review, Vol. 8, No. 3, 1999, pp. 401–410, and upon the author’s recollections of and correspondence with her. Born into a solidly working‐class family, Olive Banks overcame the disadvantages of her social class background and gender to become an internationally recognised Professor of Sociology, well known for her contribution to the developing field of the sociology of education and especially for her pioneering work on the history of feminism. Her contribution to women’s history was important at a time when the discipline was developing as an academic field of study in higher education in the 1980s in the USA and Britain.

Notes

1. S. Szreter (2006) Obituary. Olive Banks: sociologist, critic of education policy and a historian of feminism, Guardian, 12 December. See also E. Dunning (2006) Professor Olive Banks (1923–2006), University of Leicester eBulletin 2006, printed 11 January 2007.

2. O. Banks to J. Purvis, 2 October 1998.

3. O. Banks (1999) Some Reflections on Gender, Sociology and Women’s History, Women’s History Review, 8(3), pp. 401–410.

4. Banks, ‘Some Reflections’, pp. 401–2.

5. S. Szreter, Obituary, Joe Banks, Guardian, 14 December 2005. Joe examined the PhD of the historian Simon Szreter, who spoke at both Joe’s and Olive’s funerals where, apparently, the attendance was very small, just 10 people being in the congregation for Olive’s service.

6. Dunning, ‘Professor Olive Banks’.

7. J. Purvis (2005) Empowered by Pankhurst’s Struggle, Times Higher Education Supplement, 7 January.

8. Banks, ‘Some Reflections’, p. 403.

9. O. Banks (1955) Parity and Prestige in English Secondary Education (London: Routledge).

10. Banks, ‘Some Reflections’, pp. 404–405.

11. J. A. & O. Banks (1965) Feminism and Family Planning in Victorian England (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press).

12. Banks, ‘Some Reflections’, pp. 406–407.

13. Dunning, ‘Professor Olive Banks’.

14. O. Banks (1981) Faces of Feminism: a study of feminism as a social movement (Oxford: Martin Robinson).

15. Dunning, ‘Professor Olive Banks’. See also S. Szreter (2005) Joe Banks, Guardian, 14 December.

16. O. Banks (1985) The Biographical Dictionary of British Feminists Volume One: 1800–1930 (Brighton: Wheatsheaf); (1990) Volume Two: A Supplement 1900–1915 (New York: New York University Press).

17. O. Banks (1986) Becoming a Feminist: the social origins of ‘first wave’ feminism (Brighton: Wheatsheaf); O. Banks (1993) The Politics of British Feminism 1918–1970 (Aldershot: Edward Elgar).

18. J. Purvis & S. S. Holton (Eds) (2002) Votes for Women (London: Routledge).