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Ladies Can’t Climb Ladders: The Pioneering Adventures of the First Professional Women
It is a myth that the First World War liberated women.
The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919 was one of the most significant pieces of legislation in modern Britain. It should have marked a social revolution, opening the doors of the traditional professions to women who had worked so hard during the War, and welcoming them inside as equals.
But what really happened? Ladies Can't Climb Ladders focuses on the lives of pioneering women forging careers in the fields of medicine, law, academia, architecture, engineering and the church. In her startling study into the public and private worlds of these unsung heroines, Jane Robinson sheds light on their desires and ambitions, and how family and society responded to this emerging class of working women.
This book is written in their honour. Their shared vision, sacrifice and spirited perseverance began a process we have yet to finish. Their experiences raise live questions about equal opportunity, the gender pay gap, the work/life balance - and whether it is possible for women to have it all.
_______________________________
'A wonderful celebration of female pioneers' Sunday Times
'A crackingly good read' Telegraph
'A stirring testament to unsung heroes' Observer
'A lesson in how unthinkingly we wear our freedom' The Times
But what really happened? Ladies Can't Climb Ladders focuses on the lives of pioneering women forging careers in the fields of medicine, law, academia, architecture, engineering and the church. In her startling study into the public and private worlds of these unsung heroines, Jane Robinson sheds light on their desires and ambitions, and how family and society responded to this emerging class of working women.
This book is written in their honour. Their shared vision, sacrifice and spirited perseverance began a process we have yet to finish. Their experiences raise live questions about equal opportunity, the gender pay gap, the work/life balance - and whether it is possible for women to have it all.
_______________________________
'A wonderful celebration of female pioneers' Sunday Times
'A crackingly good read' Telegraph
'A stirring testament to unsung heroes' Observer
'A lesson in how unthinkingly we wear our freedom' The Times
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2020
36 people are currently reading
595 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
July 13, 2022
An interesting social history of women and work.
October 16, 2021
Very interesting social history on women entering the professions in the between war years, and the struggles and problems they faced, simply because they were female. Because it's impossible to do everything in just one book, Robinson focuses on six particular professions: engineering, the law, medicine, civil service, religion and architecture. The big names you might know as feminists from this era aren't necessarily always there, but she's looking at people who fought to get somewhere. And some of them were characters: I've noted down a few names I'd like to read more about, a proper biography of if you would.
I'll admit I don't quite get Robinson's breakdown of chapters other than they're a continuation of the tornado of information, and I did sometimes lose track of who was who, as she darts back and forth between women previously mentioned. Rather than a personality per chapter approach (which, given the number of women she writes about could have become repetitive and dull) she's looking at themes and the progress over time.
And it's 2021 and we're still not there on equal rights, but when you read about some of the nonsense going on in the 1920s and 1930s... woah, we're in a much better place. Although complacency can dampen people's fight, and movements and laws globally see areas backtracking through progress already made. I found it particularly horrible that in medical university magazines at the time, people would write in with snide poems about why women shouldn't try to be doctors and should be proper women instead... and these poems were published. Or the idea that women had a finite amount of energy, and if they used it on work, their womb would wither. What???
I wonder what female role models we'll have when social historians look back on the time period now, or indeed what they'll think of society as a whole.
Borrowed from the library.
I'll admit I don't quite get Robinson's breakdown of chapters other than they're a continuation of the tornado of information, and I did sometimes lose track of who was who, as she darts back and forth between women previously mentioned. Rather than a personality per chapter approach (which, given the number of women she writes about could have become repetitive and dull) she's looking at themes and the progress over time.
And it's 2021 and we're still not there on equal rights, but when you read about some of the nonsense going on in the 1920s and 1930s... woah, we're in a much better place. Although complacency can dampen people's fight, and movements and laws globally see areas backtracking through progress already made. I found it particularly horrible that in medical university magazines at the time, people would write in with snide poems about why women shouldn't try to be doctors and should be proper women instead... and these poems were published. Or the idea that women had a finite amount of energy, and if they used it on work, their womb would wither. What???
I wonder what female role models we'll have when social historians look back on the time period now, or indeed what they'll think of society as a whole.
Borrowed from the library.
April 25, 2022
This book gave me a better understanding of the landscape of women's history for the past 100 years. It was fine, but a bit of a slog to get through.
May 15, 2021
Interesting but not very diverse (see the cover as an illustration) principally it is about white middle-class women (not wholly but mostly). In addition some minor errors marred my enjoyment and undermined my general confidence in the book. Structurally it was somewhat disjointed and lacked some clear info on the various legal barriers and challenges.
But it did remind me how the world was and how tough it was to enter a male-dominated profession. A reminder that the gains have been slow in coming too, the book lists many pioneering women engineers but when I started in engineering, in the late '80s, women were not allowed to wear trousers in the office and Woolwich Arsenal had a men's toilet but not a women's.
But it did remind me how the world was and how tough it was to enter a male-dominated profession. A reminder that the gains have been slow in coming too, the book lists many pioneering women engineers but when I started in engineering, in the late '80s, women were not allowed to wear trousers in the office and Woolwich Arsenal had a men's toilet but not a women's.
November 5, 2020
An entertaining survey of the trials and triumphs of women entering the professions in the UK from the Victorian era onwards, concentrating on the years up to WW2. It's quite chatty and in some cases light-hearted, but with a serious point to make that some of the prejudice and discrimination of the early years has still not left us. Recommended.
March 27, 2020
Duration: 10 hrs 54 mins.
Publisher: Isis Publishing Ltd.
Ladies Don't Climb Ladders by Jane Robinson is a rich, evocative, essay in recognition of the determined, headstrong, unassailable women who challenged the status quo. It is to many of these lesser-known women that society owes the freedoms we now enjoy, and if they taught us anything, it's that a woman's work really is never done...
As we look back a hundred years to the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919, Jane Robinson reflects on the pioneering women who helped pave the way for a more egalitarian future. These are the tales of many ordinary women, a 'hexagonal citadel' of female workers and academics who revolutionised six main professions at times when women's presence in the workplace was either unwelcome or disrespected; by both society and their male colleagues.
It was interesting to note that, in the workplace, 'ladies' of circumstance, breeding, or education were at a disadvantage to women of a lower class. Women worked, ladies didn't, and this rigid distinction with the 'working class' explained some of the barriers into medicine that were placed before females who wished to become doctors, rather than nurses. Ladies' constitutions were not only considered inferior to those of men, but far weaker than their lower born counterparts.
I love the way Robinson provides brief but evocative vignettes into the lives of many other women whose stories have been largely overlooked by history. Many of my favourite stories celebrated the medically-minded women, whose reminiscences included Louisa Martindale and her friend 'Booming Bobs', a Russian Countess with "human bones sticking out of her coat pocket; absentmindedly swept up from the dissecting room".
I could have listened to a whole book of the medically-minded women's stories alone, especially when one considers that they were often up against the most strident opponents when it came to their right to practice medicine. Sir Henry Maudsley, an eminent psychiatrist, believed that "women had a finite amount of life force in their bodies and that if they spent it all on thinking, their wombs were likely to atrophy." It sounds ludicrous to us today - as I'm sure it did to many of this book's women at the time - but there were plenty within society who would not dare cast doubt upon the learned opinion of a respectable man.
With such great opposition across so many sectors, we should be thankful to all the ladies who persevered, often sacrificing personal happiness or comfort in pursuit of virtually unattainable goals.
The narrator, Karen Cass, had a bright, lively, friendly voice. It can be difficult preventing oneself from drifting off when listening to non-fiction, but Cass holds the listener's attention and delivers the information very nicely, in an accessible and engaging manner. Her reading brought Robinson's women to the forefront of their stories, helping their voices be heard by the wider public in ways few of them could contemplate within their own lifetimes.
Together, Robinson and Cass bring us a book which feels less like it is about these women, and more like one for which they are simply the mediators, allowing the women in its pages to share their stories with us across time. I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in social history. It is very human, and not at all preachy, and deserves a place in the library of everyone who has ever been told that something is not for the likes of them.
*I received this audiobook free of charge in the hope of an honest, unbiased review.
(Click here to buy this book, listen to a sample, or add it to your wishlist!)
You can read the full review on my blog.
If you liked this review then please join me for more!
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Publisher: Isis Publishing Ltd.
Ladies Don't Climb Ladders by Jane Robinson is a rich, evocative, essay in recognition of the determined, headstrong, unassailable women who challenged the status quo. It is to many of these lesser-known women that society owes the freedoms we now enjoy, and if they taught us anything, it's that a woman's work really is never done...
As we look back a hundred years to the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919, Jane Robinson reflects on the pioneering women who helped pave the way for a more egalitarian future. These are the tales of many ordinary women, a 'hexagonal citadel' of female workers and academics who revolutionised six main professions at times when women's presence in the workplace was either unwelcome or disrespected; by both society and their male colleagues.
It was interesting to note that, in the workplace, 'ladies' of circumstance, breeding, or education were at a disadvantage to women of a lower class. Women worked, ladies didn't, and this rigid distinction with the 'working class' explained some of the barriers into medicine that were placed before females who wished to become doctors, rather than nurses. Ladies' constitutions were not only considered inferior to those of men, but far weaker than their lower born counterparts.
I love the way Robinson provides brief but evocative vignettes into the lives of many other women whose stories have been largely overlooked by history. Many of my favourite stories celebrated the medically-minded women, whose reminiscences included Louisa Martindale and her friend 'Booming Bobs', a Russian Countess with "human bones sticking out of her coat pocket; absentmindedly swept up from the dissecting room".
I could have listened to a whole book of the medically-minded women's stories alone, especially when one considers that they were often up against the most strident opponents when it came to their right to practice medicine. Sir Henry Maudsley, an eminent psychiatrist, believed that "women had a finite amount of life force in their bodies and that if they spent it all on thinking, their wombs were likely to atrophy." It sounds ludicrous to us today - as I'm sure it did to many of this book's women at the time - but there were plenty within society who would not dare cast doubt upon the learned opinion of a respectable man.
With such great opposition across so many sectors, we should be thankful to all the ladies who persevered, often sacrificing personal happiness or comfort in pursuit of virtually unattainable goals.
The narrator, Karen Cass, had a bright, lively, friendly voice. It can be difficult preventing oneself from drifting off when listening to non-fiction, but Cass holds the listener's attention and delivers the information very nicely, in an accessible and engaging manner. Her reading brought Robinson's women to the forefront of their stories, helping their voices be heard by the wider public in ways few of them could contemplate within their own lifetimes.
Together, Robinson and Cass bring us a book which feels less like it is about these women, and more like one for which they are simply the mediators, allowing the women in its pages to share their stories with us across time. I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in social history. It is very human, and not at all preachy, and deserves a place in the library of everyone who has ever been told that something is not for the likes of them.
*I received this audiobook free of charge in the hope of an honest, unbiased review.
(Click here to buy this book, listen to a sample, or add it to your wishlist!)
You can read the full review on my blog.
If you liked this review then please join me for more!
| Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram |
January 13, 2023
I wanted to like this book … but it was just all over the place with no coherent chapters and a real lack of diversity.
Like the idea, but not the execution!
Like the idea, but not the execution!
March 31, 2020
A timely book published to coincide with the 100 year anniversary of the Sex Disqualification Removal Act, which ended restrictions on women holding civil and judicial posts in the United Kingdom. This book chronicles the women who were the first in their fields following this - the first women doctors, lawyers, civil servants, engineers, architects and more.
Although the intent of this book was good, the execution was messy and disjointed. I had expected each chapter to follow a different woman, or at least a different profession; instead each chapter was a medley of different stories relating, tangentially, to a theme. The chapters generally lacked cohesiveness, with the one on leisure an exception; this was the only chapter that had a clear theme that was stuck to throughout.
Moreover, I would have liked an introduction to the Sex Disqualification Removal Act, particularly its scope and its ambiguities. Only after 100 pages do we discover that the SDRA was introduced to prevent a more radical emancipation act being passed in parliament. Later still we discover that the civil service was exempt. It would have been sensible to have that outlined at the start.
Whilst I really appreciate the intent behind this book, and I applaud the number of women she covers (over 50!), I wish this could have been more cohesively written. It covers such an important part of British history that deserves to be written about.
Although the intent of this book was good, the execution was messy and disjointed. I had expected each chapter to follow a different woman, or at least a different profession; instead each chapter was a medley of different stories relating, tangentially, to a theme. The chapters generally lacked cohesiveness, with the one on leisure an exception; this was the only chapter that had a clear theme that was stuck to throughout.
Moreover, I would have liked an introduction to the Sex Disqualification Removal Act, particularly its scope and its ambiguities. Only after 100 pages do we discover that the SDRA was introduced to prevent a more radical emancipation act being passed in parliament. Later still we discover that the civil service was exempt. It would have been sensible to have that outlined at the start.
Whilst I really appreciate the intent behind this book, and I applaud the number of women she covers (over 50!), I wish this could have been more cohesively written. It covers such an important part of British history that deserves to be written about.
January 17, 2021
Ladies Can't Climb Ladders tells the stories of the pioneers who first managed to break into the professions. The first female doctors, engineers, architects and barristers - all struggled to be taken seriously in a man's world.
It's a rich social history and one wonders why some of these people aren't better known. Many of the reasons why the establishment believed these ladies couldn't (or shouldn't) work are laughable, but some of the attitudes are shocking - as is how recently some female rights were finally enshrined in law.
It isn't just the sexism that staggers the modern reader, it's the class divide too. Ladies were considered far too frail to cope with a working day, but women were expected to toil in factories as a matter of course. As Jane Robinson puts it: "Men had careers; women had jobs; ladies, like children, behaved nicely and did what they were told."
There are a gratifyingly large number of these ladies' stories here - so many so that it is sometimes hard to keep track of them all and occasionally it all gets a bit muddled. But that's a minor quibble - it's very readable and frequently fascinating. Without these people who went before, we would be stuck with lives of domestic drudgery.
It's a rich social history and one wonders why some of these people aren't better known. Many of the reasons why the establishment believed these ladies couldn't (or shouldn't) work are laughable, but some of the attitudes are shocking - as is how recently some female rights were finally enshrined in law.
It isn't just the sexism that staggers the modern reader, it's the class divide too. Ladies were considered far too frail to cope with a working day, but women were expected to toil in factories as a matter of course. As Jane Robinson puts it: "Men had careers; women had jobs; ladies, like children, behaved nicely and did what they were told."
There are a gratifyingly large number of these ladies' stories here - so many so that it is sometimes hard to keep track of them all and occasionally it all gets a bit muddled. But that's a minor quibble - it's very readable and frequently fascinating. Without these people who went before, we would be stuck with lives of domestic drudgery.
July 14, 2021
This is more of a 2.5 than a 2 review, it wasn't that bad, I learnt some things, including the fact that it wasn't until as recently as 1980 that a woman could have a credit agreement without a male guarantor.
As for the negatives, as other people have said here it felt poorly structured, flying through various individuals and their histories and then coming back to them again and again later on. I found it confusing and would have preferred each chapter to focus on a particular individual and their history, as in Helen Lewis's Difficult Women. Instead each chapter looks at a different decade or different aspects of women at work and then the individuals get mentioned multiple times because they span across different chapters.
There were also a couple of sweeping statements that riled me: "we all know about Elizabeth Garrett Anderson" (I hadn't), "... famous Bryant & May match girls strike" (I haven't heard of it before), "every working woman today can tell her own tale of discrimination" (I'm sure most can but probably not every), and a few abbreviations chucked in without explanation like VAD, LEA.
I much preferred Helen Lewis's Difficult Women and Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez and have Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn on my list to read soon.
As for the negatives, as other people have said here it felt poorly structured, flying through various individuals and their histories and then coming back to them again and again later on. I found it confusing and would have preferred each chapter to focus on a particular individual and their history, as in Helen Lewis's Difficult Women. Instead each chapter looks at a different decade or different aspects of women at work and then the individuals get mentioned multiple times because they span across different chapters.
There were also a couple of sweeping statements that riled me: "we all know about Elizabeth Garrett Anderson" (I hadn't), "... famous Bryant & May match girls strike" (I haven't heard of it before), "every working woman today can tell her own tale of discrimination" (I'm sure most can but probably not every), and a few abbreviations chucked in without explanation like VAD, LEA.
I much preferred Helen Lewis's Difficult Women and Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez and have Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn on my list to read soon.
June 12, 2021
I really loved this book. I am feminist and was happily outraged at some of the “reasons” why women weren’t allowed into the six professions: law, medicine, academia, architecture, engineering and the church. The main tone was that working class women were tough and were able to work in lower status areas (domestic service, nursing, hospitality) but ladies were far too delicate and feeble to enter the male-dominated professions. Thanks to these pioneering ladies, despite very real sexism still existing (the gender pay gap, for instance), women are now accepted in all universities and can even have their own bank account (I was horrified to learn that this wasn’t available until 1975!)
I get the criticism that it is very focussed on white middle class women, but maybe the story of black and brown women’s fights are enough to fill a whole other book.
I loved the jaunty tone and various asides by the author. Very easy to read and I’d read another one by Jane Robinson.
I get the criticism that it is very focussed on white middle class women, but maybe the story of black and brown women’s fights are enough to fill a whole other book.
I loved the jaunty tone and various asides by the author. Very easy to read and I’d read another one by Jane Robinson.
February 4, 2020
Readable social history which explores the experiences of women who broke into the formerly male exclusive professions such as the law, medicine and engineering. Robinson concentrates not just on the first one but the ones who came immediately after and who often have a harder time. She explores things like the Marriage bar. There are a number of areas she leaves unexplored for example finance -- over 20 women had licenses to print money in the early 1800s but none held similar senior roles until relatively recently.She also ignores the experiences of spies like Daphne Park who rose to be a senior MI6 controller during the 1950s and 1960s, a period when the Marriage bar remained in place. However it is is an interesting book.
April 30, 2023
Charting the story of not just the first women but many of the pioneering women breaking into the fields of medicine, law, academia, architecture, engineering and the church. These incredible folks challenged legal, social and cultural boundaries to forge their own paths. This book was full of inspiring stories and important history but it just jumped all over the place. It’s loosely in chronological order but even within that it goes forward and backwards. There were two sentences about woman then four about another then a paragraph about some else and then back the first woman. It was impossible to really get to grips with any of their stories.
August 9, 2023
Lots of interesting anecdotes and clearly very well researched into an important topic. Felt that the structure was slightly chaotic which made it less readable and the focus was a little decontextualised. In my opinion, the limited reference, beyond background characters and offhand mentions, of the working class women and those across the Empire whose struggles enabled many of the predominantly middle class pioneers to achieve their position, was disappointing. Nevertheless, whilst there were absences from the full tale, the book was overall factual and informative and brought light to a piece of history I am not particularly informed upon.
March 25, 2020
Absolutely fascinating insight into some pioneering women who did not take no for an answer and challenged the then perceived wisdom than men always knew best.
Some of the bigotry they faced is mind boggling in its stupidity, but this well researched and written book is a testament to ambition and achievement.
You find out the origin of the title early on, and with that firmly in your mind you are then introduced to a cast of characters who blazed their selfless trail and to whom we owe a debt of gratitude.
A great insight on history and a victory for common sense.
Some of the bigotry they faced is mind boggling in its stupidity, but this well researched and written book is a testament to ambition and achievement.
You find out the origin of the title early on, and with that firmly in your mind you are then introduced to a cast of characters who blazed their selfless trail and to whom we owe a debt of gratitude.
A great insight on history and a victory for common sense.
June 3, 2023
one of the major things I enjoyed was the storytelling and richness of language Jane Robinson shows.
These were 'ordinary' women with an interest to pursue what they liked. It emphasizes once more the world was very different even 30 years ago.
I do follow my fellow commenters stating it's not really diverse. Jane Robinson states the same somewhere in the book. These were women which were close to opportunities and found ways to pursue them (not minimizing the efforts they had to make). It doesn't include women coming from underpriviliged circumstances.
These were 'ordinary' women with an interest to pursue what they liked. It emphasizes once more the world was very different even 30 years ago.
I do follow my fellow commenters stating it's not really diverse. Jane Robinson states the same somewhere in the book. These were women which were close to opportunities and found ways to pursue them (not minimizing the efforts they had to make). It doesn't include women coming from underpriviliged circumstances.
May 22, 2022
An excellent book well written. The book highlights the struggle women have had to be recognised in the professions.
What I like is the way the author hasn't just concentrated on the famous women but on the others. A line stands out about its hard to be the first but to be the second or third is harder because you have seen the hazards and fight but still go head.
I highly recommended this book and will certainly look out for more books by this author.
What I like is the way the author hasn't just concentrated on the famous women but on the others. A line stands out about its hard to be the first but to be the second or third is harder because you have seen the hazards and fight but still go head.
I highly recommended this book and will certainly look out for more books by this author.
February 19, 2024
I loved this book but it’s also missing something.
I loved the way this book was written. It’s funny and easy but still contains details about these great ordinary women. It was very galvanising and I felt such pride. But I think the author could have spoken about women of other ethnicities. Most of the women discussed in this book were white. What of other women? How did their situation change over time?
Overall, I enjoyed it but it is missing a chunk of the population.
I loved the way this book was written. It’s funny and easy but still contains details about these great ordinary women. It was very galvanising and I felt such pride. But I think the author could have spoken about women of other ethnicities. Most of the women discussed in this book were white. What of other women? How did their situation change over time?
Overall, I enjoyed it but it is missing a chunk of the population.
July 9, 2025
I really liked this book and the contents of it. I like how it focuses on the ‘ordinary’ women who wanted to have careers and struggled on the basis of their sex. Mad how it wasn’t until 1980s women had to have a male references to open a bank account. It just got a bit hard to get though but I am glad I did
March 14, 2020
I really enjoyed this book, learning about the women’s stories & in turn women’s history. I am a 27yr old woman and I hadn’t heard of any of the ladies in this book, a real shame but I am so glad I now know of their stories. I would thoroughly recommend reading it.
October 21, 2020
I picked up this book at a time in my career that I was struggling with a bit of perspective. I’m a Women in Tech and sometimes it can feel a bit lonely when all my peers are men. This book gave me a reality check. Keep climbing that ladder!!
November 27, 2020
An interesting book about how women fought to enter the professions. Lots of fascinating characters. The action is mainly focused of the period between the wars though it extends both ways. Shows how far we’ve come and how the journey isn’t over.
January 2, 2023
Just brilliant! Giving us so many unknown stories of women who were early pioneers in professions - I don’t know where their strengths were to achieve what they did - well told by Jane (all her books are as worthy)
January 20, 2020
An entertaining and informative survey of the lives and careers of the early professional women. I found the structure confusing though
February 26, 2020
An interesting slice of social history, looking at the lives of professional women trying to forge careers at a time when it was considered not the done thing at all.
August 29, 2020
Very interesting book about the women who wanted careers and jobs - from Victorian times to WWII - and how they had to fight to get them and what happened to them.
November 14, 2021
I didn't really like this one that much. Jumped around a lot and I felt didn't really get to know any of the women well.
June 4, 2022
There are some interesting stories in here but tied together in a frustratingly incohesive way which made it a bit of a slog
January 12, 2023
Enjoyable book about Britain's professional women and the misogyny, gatekeeping and glass ceilings they overcame. We should all know their names and stories!
December 17, 2023
Maddening and uplifting at the same time.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews