Product Description

In 1869, when five women enrolled at university for the first time in British history, the average female brain was thought to be 150 grams lighter than a man’s. Doctors warned that if women studied too hard their wombs would wither and die. When the Cambridge Senate held a vote on whether women students should be allowed official membership of the university, there was a full-scale riot. Despite the prejudice and the terrible sacrifices they faced, women from all backgrounds persevered and paved the way for the generations who have followed them since. By the 1920s, being an ‘undergraduette’ was considered quite the fashionable thing; by the 1930s, women were emerging from universities as anything from aviation engineers to professional academics. Using the words of the women themselves, Bluestockings tells their inspiring story – a story of defiance and determination, of colourful eccentricity and at times heartbreaking loneliness, as well as of passionate friendships, midnight cocoa-parties and glorious self-discovery.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15200 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-06
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Review
'Jane Robinson's gem of a book ... tells a story of extraordinary courage and appalling discrimination ... Bluestockings is The History Boys for women' -- Frances Wilson, Sunday Times -- Frances Wilson, Sunday Times

'Modern girls need reminding of the long battle, and Jane Robinson's fine book does just that, charting the lives and struggles of campaigners ... But there is more joy than sorrow' -- Libby Purves, Mail on Sunday --Libby Purves, Mail on Sunday

'Jane Robinson is excellent on the determination of girls to go to university, sometimes in the face of parental opposition ... There is also riveting material in Bluestockings on the opposition that the women face at college' -- Mary Beard, The Times --Mary Beard, The Times

'Social history of the best kind' -- Sunday Times
-- Sunday Times

About the Author
Jane Robinson was born in Edinburgh and brought up in North Yorkshire. After reading English at Somerville College, Oxford, she became an antiquarian book dealer, later leaving to pursue a writing career. Her books about women travellers and pioneers have established her as an engaging social historian with an appreciative eye for eccentricity. Jane lives near Oxford with her husband and two sons.

Customer Reviews

The fight for education for women
I found this book a real eye opener as even though I was familiar with the women's liberation movement I hadn't appreciated how recently the right to a university education had been won. Cambridge University did not grant women degrees until 1948 though it was the last university to do so. Women were not considered capable of academic achievments and it was thought they would seriously damage their brains by study. Only men were capable of understanding complex subjects.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is written in an approachable style and includes many quotations from correspondence and diaries written by the pioneers of secondary and tertiary education for women. The extracts bring the subject to life. The snippets about the system of chaperones in place at the start of the twentieth century show how women were constrained by social expectations. One woman was sent down because she was seen talking to her brother alone in a public place. Many female undergraduates never even spoke to a man for the whole time they were at university. Fees and living costs had to be paid for by the student themselves or their families and many made heroic sacrifices in order to send their clever daughters to university.

This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in the progress towards equality of opportunity for all. It will also be interesting to anyone who likes reading social history. There are some excellent photographs reproduced in the book as well as line drawings thoughout the text and a useful bibliography for further reading. I found it as enthralling as any fiction.

Bluestockings
An excellent book, written with Jane Robinson's usual fluency, truly justifying the BBC's choice as book of the week. It provides a graphic picture of the issues faced by young women wishing to pursue their studies in a world dominated by masculinity, and illustrates how they overcame prejudice within both their own families and society more generally. A gripping series of stories emerges, told with insight and humour. How did Ms Robinson find all those remarkable illustrations? Bluestockings: The Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education

Bluestockings
The book has been a real eye opener I knew women had had a hard time gaining the vote but it is quite shocking to read about what they had to put up with to gain a higher education. It is also quite frightening to think what society has lost by not allowing women to study at a higher level and do a multitude of things just because they were women.