Bloody Brilliant Women

Bloody Brilliant Women Plot Summary

Introduction

On a foggy London morning in 1918, a small group of women gathered outside Parliament, their faces a mixture of triumph and determination. After decades of struggle, imprisonment, and even death, women over thirty who met certain property qualifications had finally won the right to vote. Yet as they celebrated this hard-fought victory, they knew it was merely the beginning of a much longer journey. The vote alone would not guarantee equality in education, employment, family life, or personal autonomy. The story of women's struggle for equality in Britain is one of remarkable persistence in the face of entrenched resistance. It reveals how ordinary women transformed society through both dramatic protests and quiet daily rebellions against limitation. From suffragettes chaining themselves to railings to factory workers demanding equal pay, from pioneering female politicians entering Parliament to mothers fighting for control over their reproductive lives - these interconnected battles have fundamentally reshaped British society. By examining how women navigated systems designed to exclude them, we gain insight not just into women's history, but into how power operates and how meaningful change occurs in democratic societies.

Chapter 1: Breaking Barriers: The Suffrage Movement (1880-1918)

The late Victorian era witnessed profound social transformations that laid the groundwork for women's emancipation. Britain had evolved into an industrial powerhouse with sprawling urban centers, yet politics remained firmly in the grip of elderly men. Against this backdrop of industrial expansion and urbanization, women began challenging their prescribed roles with increasing determination and organizational sophistication. The suffrage movement gained momentum through two distinct approaches. The "suffragists" led by Millicent Garrett Fawcett advocated winning the vote through constitutional means - petitions, meetings, and peaceful demonstrations. In contrast, the "suffragettes" under Emmeline Pankhurst embraced militant tactics. The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded by Pankhurst in 1903, adopted the motto "deeds, not words" and engaged in increasingly confrontational protests. By 1913, tactics had escalated to arson and hunger strikes, culminating in Emily Davison's fatal injury at the Derby when she stepped in front of the King's horse. Working-class women faced particularly harsh circumstances during this period. Many labored in factories under dangerous conditions or took on piecework at home to supplement their husbands' meager earnings. Pioneering activists like Ada Nield Chew exposed the exploitative pay and conditions at clothing factories, while Annie Besant helped organize the famous matchgirls' strike at Bryant & May in 1888, securing better conditions for workers suffering from "phossy jaw" - a horrific condition caused by white phosphorus exposure. Education became another crucial battleground. The Girls' Public Day School Trust was founded in 1872, while women's colleges like Girton (1869) and Lady Margaret Hall (1879) opened at Cambridge and Oxford respectively. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson's struggle to train as a doctor exemplified the obstacles women faced in professional education - rejected by numerous English and Scottish medical schools, she eventually obtained her degree in 1870 after teaching herself French to study in Paris. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 temporarily halted the suffrage campaign as women redirected their energies to the war effort. As men departed for the front lines, women stepped into positions previously considered exclusively male - working in munitions factories, driving ambulances, and serving in newly formed women's military auxiliaries. Their vital contributions to the war effort fundamentally changed perceptions about women's capabilities and citizenship rights. By 1918, the government could no longer justify denying women the vote, and the Representation of the People Act enfranchised women over 30 who met property qualifications. Though not full equality, it represented a crucial breakthrough that would pave the way for further advances in the decades to come.

Chapter 2: War and Transformation: Women's Changing Roles (1914-1945)

The two World Wars fundamentally transformed women's roles in British society. When war erupted in 1914, women's lives changed with unprecedented speed. As men departed for the front lines, women stepped into positions previously considered exclusively male. The journalist Mabel Potter Daggett captured this shift when she wrote that "the door of The Doll's House opened - for the shot that was fired in Serbia summoned men to their most ancient occupation - and women to every other." During the First World War, women became munitions workers, bus conductors, bank clerks, and more. The dangerous nature of munitions work was evident - TNT turned women's skin yellow with jaundice, earning them the nickname "canaries," and many suffered fatal poisoning. Beyond factories, women drove ambulances and established field hospitals. Dr. Louisa Garrett Anderson and Dr. Flora Murray formed the Women's Hospital Corps, while Dr. Elsie Inglis founded the Scottish Women's Hospitals after being told by the Royal Army Medical Corps to "go home and sit still." The Second World War saw even more comprehensive mobilization of women. By 1943, nearly 90 percent of single women and 80 percent of married women were engaged in essential war work. The National Service Act of 1941 made it compulsory for unmarried women between 20 and 30 to register for war service. Women operated anti-aircraft guns, worked as codebreakers at Bletchley Park, and flew military aircraft from factories to airfields. Engineer Beatrice "Tilly" Shilling made a crucial contribution by solving a serious flaw in Spitfire engines that had been causing them to cut out during combat maneuvers - her simple but effective solution became known as "Miss Shilling's Orifice." Women's wartime contributions dramatically shifted public opinion about their capabilities and citizenship rights. By 1917, even Winston Churchill acknowledged that "our armies have been saved and victory assured by the women in the munitions factories." This recognition helped secure the passage of the Representation of the People Act in 1918, which enfranchised women over thirty who owned property or were married to property owners. Full voting equality would not come until 1928, but the foundation had been established through women's wartime sacrifice and service. The wars created unprecedented social mobility for working-class women, bringing together women from different backgrounds who would never otherwise have met. Yet this mobility came with costs - separation from families, exhausting work schedules, and for many, the grief of losing loved ones. When peace returned after each conflict, women faced pressure to surrender their wartime roles and return to domestic life. However, having proven their capabilities in virtually every field, many women were reluctant to retreat from public life. The experience of the wars had fundamentally altered both women's expectations and society's perceptions of what women could achieve, creating momentum for further advances in equality that would shape the postwar decades.

Chapter 3: Post-War Paradox: New Freedoms and Old Constraints (1945-1960)

The immediate postwar years presented British women with a contradictory landscape of new opportunities alongside powerful pressures to return to traditional roles. Victory in 1945 brought Labour to power under Clement Attlee, ushering in the welfare state that would transform healthcare, education, and social security. For women, these changes brought significant benefits but also reinforced certain assumptions about their primary role as wives and mothers. Demobilization began almost immediately after VE Day, with women in the armed forces and factories among the first to be released. The government's priority was to make jobs available for returning servicemen, and many women found themselves pushed out of well-paid industrial positions. By 1947, the percentage of women in the workforce had dropped from its wartime peak of 39 percent to 30 percent. Those who remained employed often faced demotion or transfer to lower-paid "women's work." The civil service finally abolished its marriage bar in 1946, but many private employers continued to require women to resign upon marriage. The creation of the National Health Service in 1948 particularly benefited women, transforming maternal and child healthcare. For the first time, women from all social classes had access to free medical care during pregnancy and childbirth. Eleanor Rathbone's long campaign for family allowances finally bore fruit with the Family Allowance Act of 1945, providing direct payments to mothers - a significant recognition of women's economic role in family life. However, the welfare state also institutionalized certain assumptions about gender roles. William Beveridge, the architect of the system, believed that married women were primarily homemakers "supported by their husbands," and designed benefits accordingly. Housing policy and consumer culture reinforced traditional gender expectations. The massive postwar housing program prioritized family homes with modern kitchens designed for full-time housewives. Advertisers targeted women with labor-saving devices like washing machines and vacuum cleaners, promising to make housework easier rather than questioning whether it should remain women's exclusive domain. Women's magazines like Woman's Own and Woman's Weekly promoted domestic skills and beauty tips rather than career advice. As sociologist Ferdinand Zweig found in his 1952 study, most working-class women saw employment as temporary, something to do before marriage or while children were grown. Despite these pressures, significant numbers of women continued to work outside the home, particularly in the expanding service sector and professions like teaching and nursing. Professional women made important breakthroughs during this period. Rose Heilbron became Britain's first female King's Counsel in 1949 and the first woman to lead a murder case in 1950. In science, crystallographer Rosalind Franklin produced the crucial X-ray diffraction images that revealed the structure of DNA, though her contribution would be overshadowed by Watson and Crick who used her data without proper acknowledgment. By the late 1950s, cracks were appearing in the domestic ideal. Sociological studies revealed widespread dissatisfaction among middle-class housewives, what Betty Friedan would later call "the problem that has no name." Young women increasingly questioned whether marriage and motherhood should be their only ambition. The introduction of the contraceptive pill in 1961 would soon give women unprecedented control over their fertility, helping to separate sexuality from reproduction and creating conditions for the more dramatic social changes that would characterize the decade to come.

Chapter 4: Revolution in Rights: The Feminist Awakening (1960-1979)

The 1960s and 1970s witnessed a profound transformation in women's lives, as the second wave of feminism emerged to challenge deeply entrenched gender inequalities. This period was characterized by legislative victories, cultural upheaval, and a fundamental rethinking of women's roles in society. The contraceptive pill, approved for married women in 1961 and unmarried women by the late 1960s, revolutionized women's control over their fertility and, consequently, their educational and career opportunities. A flurry of progressive legislation expanded women's legal rights during this period. The 1967 Abortion Act, championed by Liberal MP David Steel, legalized abortion under certain conditions, giving women greater control over their reproductive lives. The 1969 Divorce Reform Act made divorce more accessible, reducing women's dependence on unsatisfactory marriages. Most significantly, the Equal Pay Act of 1970, introduced by Labour Employment Secretary Barbara Castle following the Ford sewing machinists' strike at Dagenham, established the principle of equal pay for equal work. The Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 made it illegal to discriminate against women in employment, education, and training. The women's liberation movement that emerged in the late 1960s differed from earlier feminist activism in its radical critique of patriarchy and its emphasis on consciousness-raising. Following the first National Women's Liberation Conference at Ruskin College, Oxford in 1970, women organized protests, established women's centers, and created networks of support. The movement's demands included equal pay, equal education and opportunity, 24-hour childcare, free contraception, and abortion on demand. The protest at the 1970 Miss World competition, where activists disrupted the event with flour bombs and leaflets declaring "We're not beautiful, we're not ugly, we're angry," exemplified the movement's theatrical tactics and its critique of women's objectification. Media and cultural representation became key battlegrounds. Germaine Greer's "The Female Eunuch" (1970) became an international bestseller, arguing that women had been alienated from their own sexuality and needed to reclaim it. Feminist publishing houses like Virago, founded in 1973, began republishing forgotten women writers and publishing new feminist voices. Magazines like "Spare Rib" offered alternatives to traditional women's magazines, focusing on politics rather than fashion and homemaking. In television, pioneering producers like Verity Lambert, who launched "Doctor Who" in 1963, were transforming British broadcasting despite working in environments where, as Lambert put it, "as a woman I did have to work twice as hard." The women's movement was not monolithic, however. Tensions emerged between socialist feminists who prioritized class analysis and radical feminists who centered gender oppression. Black and Asian women formed their own organizations, like the Brixton Black Women's Group and the Organisation of Women of Asian and African Descent, arguing that white feminism often failed to address racism. Lesbian feminists challenged heteronormativity within the movement itself. These internal critiques ultimately strengthened feminism by making it more inclusive and nuanced, though media portrayals often focused on divisions rather than common goals. By the end of the 1970s, the feminist revolution had transformed not just legislation but consciousness. Women's right to equal treatment in education, employment, and public life was established in principle, if not always in practice. As Britain entered the Thatcher era, feminism faced new challenges from both conservative backlash and internal evolution, but the fundamental changes in women's expectations and rights could not be reversed. The groundwork had been laid for further advances in the decades to come, even as significant barriers to full equality remained.

Chapter 5: From Thatcher to Blair: Politics and Power (1979-1997)

The election of Margaret Thatcher as Britain's first female Prime Minister in May 1979 marked a historic milestone, yet presented a paradox for women's advancement. Thatcher broke the ultimate glass ceiling in British politics, demonstrating that a woman could reach the highest office in the land. Yet throughout her eleven years in power, she appointed only one woman to her Cabinet (Baroness Young) and famously declared that "the battle for women's rights has been largely won." Her individualistic philosophy emphasized meritocracy over structural change, leaving many barriers to women's advancement firmly in place. Thatcher's complex relationship with gender illuminated broader tensions in women's political participation. She employed voice coaches to lower her pitch to sound more authoritative, while simultaneously using her identity as a housewife to connect with voters on economic issues like inflation. Though she benefited from her husband Denis's financial support, which enabled her to train as a barrister and hire childcare, she showed little recognition that most women lacked such advantages. Her government cut funding to the Equal Opportunities Commission and opposed European directives on maternity rights and equal treatment, reflecting her belief that special provisions for women were unnecessary in a true meritocracy. Outside Westminster, women were organizing in new ways. The Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, established in 1981 to protest the siting of American cruise missiles, became one of the decade's most significant feminist actions. The protesters deliberately emphasized their identity as women and mothers concerned about nuclear threats, creating a women-only space that challenged militarism through non-violent direct action. Despite facing harassment and ridicule, they maintained their presence until 1991, influencing the nuclear disarmament movement globally. The 1984-85 miners' strike saw the emergence of women's support groups in mining communities, with women like Betty Cook from Woolley in Yorkshire becoming politically active for the first time. As Cook later reflected, "During the strike, my eyes were opened... I had always been told I was thick and I was stupid by my husband but I learned I wasn't." These grassroots movements demonstrated how political consciousness could develop through direct action and community organizing, even as formal political representation remained limited. In the business world, pioneering women were making inroads into male-dominated industries. Anita Roddick founded The Body Shop in 1976, growing it into an international brand that championed ethical business practices and environmental sustainability. Yet these success stories remained exceptions in a business culture dominated by men. By 1997, only one woman (Marjorie Scardino at Pearson) had become CEO of a FTSE 100 company. The "glass ceiling" metaphor gained currency precisely because it described the experience of many professional women who could see top positions but found invisible barriers preventing their advancement. The 1997 general election transformed women's political representation overnight. Labour's use of all-women shortlists resulted in 101 Labour women MPs, more than doubling female representation in Parliament. Though derisively dubbed "Blair's Babes" by the media, these women brought new perspectives to Westminster and helped advance policies benefiting women, from improved childcare to domestic violence legislation. The establishment of the Women's Minister role signaled a new institutional commitment to gender equality. However, these women faced significant challenges, from sexist media coverage to the practical difficulties of combining parliamentary duties with family responsibilities. Their experiences demonstrated that increasing numerical representation was necessary but not sufficient for transforming political culture and achieving substantive equality.

Chapter 6: Digital Age Challenges: New Battlegrounds for Equality (1997-2017)

The digital revolution that began in the late 1990s transformed how women organized, communicated, and challenged discrimination. The internet, initially dominated by men, gradually became a space where women could build networks, share experiences, and mobilize for change. Pioneering women in technology like Martha Lane Fox, who co-founded lastminute.com in 1998, demonstrated women's capacity for innovation in the digital economy. Yet the tech industry itself remained stubbornly male-dominated, with women comprising only a small percentage of computer science graduates and tech executives. Social media platforms that emerged in the 2000s created new opportunities and challenges for women. Sites like Mumsnet, founded in 2000 by Justine Roberts and Carrie Longton, built powerful online communities where women could share advice and experiences. However, these same technologies enabled new forms of misogyny and harassment. Campaigns like Everyday Sexism, founded by Laura Bates in 2012, used digital platforms to document the pervasive nature of sexism and sexual harassment. When Caroline Criado-Perez successfully campaigned to keep female representation on British banknotes in 2013, she received thousands of rape and death threats on Twitter, highlighting the backlash women often faced when speaking out in digital spaces. In the workplace, persistent inequalities remained despite decades of equal opportunity legislation. Despite the Equal Pay Act being nearly fifty years old, the gender pay gap persisted, with women earning on average 18% less than men. When mandatory gender pay gap reporting was introduced in 2018, it revealed that 78% of companies paid men more than women. High-profile cases like Carrie Gracie's resignation as the BBC's China editor in 2018, protesting unequal pay compared to male colleagues, demonstrated that even prestigious institutions maintained discriminatory practices. Women continued to be underrepresented in STEM fields, boardrooms, and senior management, despite evidence that diverse leadership improved organizational performance. Political representation continued to increase, though progress remained uneven. The election of Theresa May as Britain's second female Prime Minister in 2016 came after several women had held senior Cabinet positions, including Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary. The 2017 general election resulted in a record 208 female MPs (32% of the House of Commons). Women from diverse backgrounds made breakthroughs, including Diane Abbott, who in 1987 had become the first Black woman MP and by 2015 was a senior Shadow Cabinet member. In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon became First Minister in 2014, while women led both Plaid Cymru in Wales and the Green Party in England. The #MeToo movement that gained global momentum in 2017 following allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein resonated strongly in Britain. Women across industries came forward with accounts of sexual harassment and assault, challenging cultures of silence and impunity. Organizations from Parliament to the BBC faced reckonings over longstanding patterns of harassment and discrimination. The movement built on decades of feminist activism against violence against women, connecting individual experiences to systemic problems and demanding institutional change. Throughout this period, intersectional approaches to feminism gained greater recognition. Organizations like Southall Black Sisters, Imkaan, and the Muslim Women's Network highlighted how gender discrimination intersected with racism, religious discrimination, and other forms of oppression. Transgender women's rights became more visible in public discourse, with activists like Paris Lees advocating for trans inclusion in feminist movements. These developments reflected a more nuanced understanding of how gender inequality operates differently across various communities and identities, requiring tailored approaches rather than one-size-fits-all solutions.

Summary

Throughout the century from 1918 to 2017, a fundamental tension shaped women's experiences in Britain: the gap between formal legal equality and substantive real-world inequality. Each generation of women faced this disconnect in different forms - from the early female MPs who could vote and be elected but were excluded from parliamentary facilities, to the 21st century professionals who could enter any field but still faced pay discrimination and harassment. Progress was neither linear nor universal, with advances in one area often accompanied by regression or resistance in others. Economic cycles, wars, technological changes, and political shifts alternatively accelerated and impeded women's advancement, creating a complex pattern of gains and setbacks. The history of women's struggle for equality offers crucial lessons for ongoing efforts to achieve genuine equity. First, legal rights alone are insufficient without cultural and institutional change - the Equal Pay Act of 1970 did not close the gender pay gap even fifty years later. Second, women's solidarity across differences of class, race, sexuality, and other identities has been essential for meaningful progress, though building such coalitions has often been challenging. Third, women's advancement has benefited society as a whole, from the welfare state measures championed by early female MPs to the diverse perspectives brought to previously male-dominated fields. As new challenges emerge from technological disruption, economic uncertainty, and political polarization, the resilience, creativity, and determination demonstrated by women throughout the past century provide both inspiration and practical strategies for continuing the unfinished revolution of gender equality.

About Author

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Cathy Newman

Catherine Elizabeth Newman is an English journalist and presenter of Channel 4 News.Newman began her career as a newspaper journalist, and had spells at Media Week, The Independent, the Financial Times and The Washington Post. She has worked on Channel 4 News since 2006, initially as a correspondent and, since 2011, as a presenter.Newman was long-listed for the Orwell Prize (Journalism) in 2010 and again in 2011 for the blog prize. She was announced as one of the judges for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction in 2015. Her book, Bloody Brilliant Women, concerning significant, but unheralded, 20th-century women, is due for publication in autumn 2018.

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