Ladies Who Punch: Fifty Trailblazing Women Whose Stories You Should Know

Description

Throughout history, plucky, indomitable, daring, fearless women and girls have done what they felt they had to and, intentionally or otherwise, upended the social order and common values. Some have paid a high price for making their voices heard, while others have been handsomely rewarded. Male domination and crushing conformity still thwart women. In 2020, the UK Press Awards shortlist was almost wholly male; headhunters searching for the next Bank of England governor found over twenty men and just three women; the Supreme Court is predominantly male; a book on fifty thinkers who shaped the modern world, published in 2012, included just three women. And so it goes on. Gutsy female challengers will be needed for a long time. This collection remembers ladies who punched their way through life in the past, including Gertrude Bell, the 'mother of Iraq'; Mary Lee, a mathematician, engineer and campaigner for equal pay and the mother of Tim Berners-Lee; Princess Diana; Deborah Orr; the unrecognised suffragette Sophia Singh; and Anne Lister, the lesbian landowner. It also highlights today's amazing rebels: the mum who raised Phoebe Waller-Bridge and her other creative siblings; Helena Kennedy; Caroline Criado-Perez; Carole Cadwalladr; Kathy Lette; Reni Eddo-Lodge; Anita Anand; the conductor Jane Glover; artist and poet Frieda Hughes, daughter of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes; and Brenda Hale

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is a prominent political and social commentator, a journalist, an author and an Orwell Prize and National Press Awards winner. A regular columnist for the i and feature writer for the Sunday Times Magazine, she is the editor of Biteback's Provocations series, for which she wrote Refusing the Veil in 2014 and In Defence of Political Correctness in 2018. Her other works include Exotic England, which tells the story of a nation that has always been diverse and hybrid

"This fantastic book is a true celebration of revolutionary women of all ages, backgrounds and concerns. Told with passion, heartfelt sincerity and thought-provoking insight, Ladies Who Punch gives us a welcome reminder that, though we've come a long way in the fight for equality, our work is not yet done." - Iain Dale "A brilliant collection of women of our time and in the past." - Mishal Husain "Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's pen portraits burn with admiration and engross you with their fine detail, sharp insights and humane wit. All her subjects make you want to stand up and cheer, as the author does herself." - Zoe Williams