'What is progressive feminism?' Questions raised by the life of Jane Waterston (1843-1932)

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Periodical article

Title:	'What is progressive feminism?' Questions raised by the life of Jane Waterston (1843-1932)
Author:	Cock, J.
Year:	1989
Periodical:	Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity
Issue:	5
Pages:	1-16
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	women feminism biographies (form) Historical/Biographical Equality and Liberation
About person:	Jane Elizabeth Waterston (1843-1932)
External link:	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10130950.1989.9675057
Abstract:	'Progressive feminism' has four characteristics: a focus on 'the politics of gender', an emphasis on organization, a stress on the integration of 'the personal' with 'the political', and an acceptance of diversity. This political pluralism provides a basis from which it is possible to evaluate the contribution of our feminist forbears. This article looks at the life of Jane Waterston (1843-1932) in terms of some of these criteria. Born in Scotland, Waterston went to South Africa as a missionary and pioneered education for African girls as the first principal of Lovedale's Girls' School (1866-1873). She was one of the first women to qualify as a doctor in England, worked as a medical missionary in what was then Nyasaland, and practised as the first woman doctor in Cape Town for 50 years from 1883. The author describes her role in health care, in African education, and as an independent woman before assessing her as a 19th century feminist and as a 'progressive feminist'. Bibliogr., note.