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A review by gabe_reads
A Lab of One's Own: Science and Suffrage in the First World War by Patricia Fara
3.0
The main reason this is a 3 is because I struggle to get into the kinds of books which are basically just a list of what happened to one person and then another and then another.
Despite this, it was a really interesting book about the role of women in science before, during and after the second world war. The general story is of the immense difficulty of women to engage in meaningful work before the war. This changed during the war as there was such a desperate requirement that women were drafted into work that they’d previously been forcefully excluded from. Suffragists took advantage of this to prove that women were capable and responsible in the way men were. There was also still a massive amount of resistance from men at every point in the system. Then, after the war women were effectively removed from the roles they’d worked in and stripped of the new freedoms they’d experienced. It was actually shocking how ridiculous the turnaround was from celebrating women’s war work to going back to pretending they were ditzy dummies who couldn’t do big boy work. I was consistently amazed by the drive and ability of some of these people to defy everything that was thrown in their way.
I was particularly struck by Dr Isabel Emslie Hutton, who built and ran hospitals in Europe during and after the war through what seemed like sheer force of will (not to detract from her very obvious skills). It does remind me how lucky I am to have had such an easy route in life to where I am. It was also interesting that so much of the research was based on the Oxbridge women’s colleges, apparently because they kept very good records of what their members achieved. It was also important to remember how many of the descendants of these attitudes and views are still holding women back today.
Despite this, it was a really interesting book about the role of women in science before, during and after the second world war. The general story is of the immense difficulty of women to engage in meaningful work before the war. This changed during the war as there was such a desperate requirement that women were drafted into work that they’d previously been forcefully excluded from. Suffragists took advantage of this to prove that women were capable and responsible in the way men were. There was also still a massive amount of resistance from men at every point in the system. Then, after the war women were effectively removed from the roles they’d worked in and stripped of the new freedoms they’d experienced. It was actually shocking how ridiculous the turnaround was from celebrating women’s war work to going back to pretending they were ditzy dummies who couldn’t do big boy work. I was consistently amazed by the drive and ability of some of these people to defy everything that was thrown in their way.
I was particularly struck by Dr Isabel Emslie Hutton, who built and ran hospitals in Europe during and after the war through what seemed like sheer force of will (not to detract from her very obvious skills). It does remind me how lucky I am to have had such an easy route in life to where I am. It was also interesting that so much of the research was based on the Oxbridge women’s colleges, apparently because they kept very good records of what their members achieved. It was also important to remember how many of the descendants of these attitudes and views are still holding women back today.