Gender, Embodiment and Professional Identity in Britain, C.1890-1930

This article examines how the body, clothing and deportment were important elements in women’s negotiation of gendered professional identities, c.1890-1930. To emulate masculine attire or behaviour compromised their gender identity, but to embody traits associated with femininity could undermine their professional authority. Focusing particularly on women doctors and academics, the article argues that by the interwar period some women found it easier to reconcile embodied gender and professional identities, albeit in restricted ways. This was partly because of successes in female professionalisation and the increased visibility of women ‘role models’ which, in turn, influenced the self-shaping of successive generations.