Unfinished Business

We’ve celebrated the centenary of the first votes for women. We’ve witnessed the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland. We’ve won countless battles to pass legislation and to amplify marginalised voices with an intersectional approach to feminism. We may feel we have arrived. But the fight for women’s rights is unfinished business.

Unfinished Business begins with the Body. It explores how women are perceived, how they fight for autonomy and seek sexual pleasure, freedom and expression. Historically deemed inferior to men, women have also had to fight for recognition of their intellect. Protests centring on the Mind begin with educational inequalities disproportionately affecting black children and petitions for degree qualifications for women, later recognising the victories of working women’s unions and examining women’s presence in politics. Finally, we see how the Voice of women is projected in their creative responses to gender disparity, through protest, publication and invention.

Containing sixteen voices, each with a different focus, Unfinished Business reveals how the impressive and moving history of women’s campaigning works as an engine to power future change, connecting it to the contemporary moment of debate. This bold and celebratory history champions the incredible work of activist organisations today and showcases influential women, speaking for themselves.

Author Biography

Polly Russell is Lead Curator for Contemporary Politics and Public Life at the British Library. She is also a food historian and co-presenter of the BBC’s Back in Time for… series. Margaretta Jolly is Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Sussex, working with the British Library to support the collection of women’s liberation history