Helen Lewis’ book Difficult Women” is about how changes in law and society have been made in this country by some outstanding women – some of whom we remember and some of whom we now know little about. In order to gain rights and justice for their cause these woman needed to break free from the mould that society tried to press them into and become “difficult”. Of course the women were much more than that. They were brave and forceful and committed and persistent and clever. None of them found it easy to effect change in our society.
The book takes various issues which affected women and shows how the campaigning and work of specific women made a difference – a difference which benefitted many. The issues include divorce, the vote, sex, play, safety, love, education, abortion and time. Women featured include Emmeline Pankhurst (the vote), Marie Stopes (sex) and Mary Wollstonecroft (education), about whom I knew something before reading the book and Erin Pizzey (safety), Caroline Norton (divorce) and Lily Parr (play), about whom I knew little or nothing. The author is careful not to turn her subjects into saints and presents the women “warts and all” – where possible she also interviews them and includes her own impressions.
The overall theme of the book is that women will not achieve equality or fairness unless they disrupt the established thinking and processes and that to do that they need to step away from cultural norms and often to pay a heavy price. The result, however, of these brave woman and their compatriots is the equality and progress in women’s rights that has taken place over the past couple of centuries.
I listened to this book on audio where it was narrated by the author. I liked the way in which the women were presented and how the author showed the progress made and that which remains to be done. This book reminded me of Man Who Hate Women (see my review here) by Laura Bates which reads as a companion piece to this narrative.
Anne Is Reading 