Bluestockings

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.

ISBN 0670916846   Pages 304 ISBN13 9780670916849 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 562 Publisher Penguin Books Ltd   Published in London Imprint Viking   Height (mm) 240 Format Hardback   Width (mm) 162 Publication date 06 Aug 2009   Spine width (mm) 29 DEWEY 378.00820941   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

		List of Illustrations
		Chronology: Landmark Dates in the History of Higher Education for Women in England
1		Ingenious and Learned Ladies		1
2		Working in Hope		22
3		Invading Academia		46
4		Most Abhorred of All Types		69
5		What to Do if You Catch Fire		89
6		Freshers		106
7		Women's Sphere		123
8		Blessed Work		143
9		Spear Fishing and Other Pursuits		163
10		Shadows		184
11		Breeding White Elephants		202
		Notes		219
		Select Bibliography		241
		Index		253

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