A Woman's Work

As Samuel Johnson said: "If a man is tired of London, he is tired of life" and although I love the peace and tranquility of Wiltshire, I hope never to tire of visiting London for its plethora of history and culture. Last week, I was privileged to attend a "Suffrage History Walk" round Bloomsbury, led by the fascinating Carol Harris. The walk started at Coram Hospital where Carol is the Social Historian (and if you've never visited the Foundling Museum there, it is one of the most moving and interesting places to go in London). Carol writes, walks and talks history and is a veritable fount of knowledge on centuries of London history (www.carolharrismikebrown.com) (By the way if you say 'font' you are not wrong, the OED says this is now more common usage but fount is still the accepted correct spelling.)

Our walk started at the home of many of the Bloomsbury Group members. Although Virginia Woolf supported the Suffrage movement, she was not heavily involved. Our walk visited location, rather than statues and we learnt that less than 10%of the statues in London are of women and most of those are of Queen Victoria! Next to the site of the first medical school for women - women doctors were, not surprisingly, the most passionate supporters of Votes for Women.

One of the most interesting women I knew nothing about, is Helena Normanton. Helena was the first woman to practice at the Bar, the first to obtain a divorce for her client and the first woman to lead the prosecution in a murder trial. She married in 1921 but kept her maiden name for professional purposes and was the first married woman to be issued a passport in her maiden name. She was a great campaigner for women's rights and women's suffrage, was a pacifist and later supporter of CND.

We learnt about Helena outside the offices of Doughy Street Chambers who specialise in human rights and civil liberties cases, and the home, amongst others, of Amal Clooney. Back in the 1920s Helena and her peers, who believed in peaceful campaigning, advertised in women's magazines such as Good Housekeeping, Woman and Home, etc. to get their message across to ordinary women. They were quite distinct from the WSPU (Women's Social and Political Union) known as "Suffragettes" who used violent means to gain women the vote and had no other aims.

Despite (some) women getting the vote 100 years ago, we know there are still many inequalities. Progress was made throughout the 20th century thanks to many successive campaigners, but it was slow. Last winter, I was fortunate to attend a lecture at the British Library with Harriet Harman being interviewed by Joan Bakewell and heard about some of the struggles of a young female MP with a family. When Harriet started her career as an MP in 1982, men-only job adverts and a 'women's rate of pay' were the norm. A woman couldn't even sign for a mortgage. Her autobiography A Woman's Work is an inspiring and honest account of the part she has played in politics and in improving women's lives. Well worth reading.