I picked this book up in the book fair. Bookstores are becoming scarce in India as the independent book stores are closing and we do not have anything like Barnes and Noble.
Patricia Fara reveals the stories of female scientists, doctors, engineers against the backdrop of the first world war. Women were admitted to colleges by 1869 in England. However, the scope of their work was limited. Most ended up as teachers. However, when World War I happened, men were conscripted and what was initially thought as something would last only weeks or months ended up lasting for years. This when the doors opened for women. They worked in munition factories, they were engaged as engineers, as doctors and of course as nurses. Patricia Fara examines the role of these unsung women in the war. Intertwined is the Women Suffragette movement and women get the right to vote- not all women but some of them-during the war.
Of course, when the war ends the women are expected to take a back seat to men. People expect things to go back to as usual but things have changed subtly. Women no longer are willing to take a back seat. There are still struggles (in fact it continues today also) but slowly there is a grudging acceptance too.
I really enjoyed the book- in fact I finished half of the book during the flight from Delhi to Chennai. It was an absorbing tale.
The stories are limited to England but I was asking myself about India. Of course, this was the time of Freedom struggle. But it was also the time when child marriages were the norm and girls were not educated. If the husband died, then the wife (whether the marriage was consummated or not) became a child widow with her head shaven and forced to wear the widow's garb.
The first college for Women was Isabella Thoburn College in Lucknow which was started in 1870 as a school and later became a college. Queen Mary's in Chennai was started 1914. Much before Queen Mary's was started, the first women graduate in Chennai was Sister Subbalakshmi who attended Presidency College. I remember reading her memoir in Imprint where she says that used to go to college in a rickshaw. She was, in fact, a child widow but her father refused to shave her head. Instead he had her educated. She later opened Sarada Vidayalaya in Chennai where my mother studied.
But education for girls remained a rarity except in few of the highly educated/enlighted houses. The woman professor, most celebrated, was Janaki Ammal who studied in Queen Mary's and later obtained Ph.D at the University of Michigan.
Information about these early women is scarce or at least I have not come across the information. Something to do later on.
Patricia Fara reveals the stories of female scientists, doctors, engineers against the backdrop of the first world war. Women were admitted to colleges by 1869 in England. However, the scope of their work was limited. Most ended up as teachers. However, when World War I happened, men were conscripted and what was initially thought as something would last only weeks or months ended up lasting for years. This when the doors opened for women. They worked in munition factories, they were engaged as engineers, as doctors and of course as nurses. Patricia Fara examines the role of these unsung women in the war. Intertwined is the Women Suffragette movement and women get the right to vote- not all women but some of them-during the war.
Of course, when the war ends the women are expected to take a back seat to men. People expect things to go back to as usual but things have changed subtly. Women no longer are willing to take a back seat. There are still struggles (in fact it continues today also) but slowly there is a grudging acceptance too.
I really enjoyed the book- in fact I finished half of the book during the flight from Delhi to Chennai. It was an absorbing tale.
The stories are limited to England but I was asking myself about India. Of course, this was the time of Freedom struggle. But it was also the time when child marriages were the norm and girls were not educated. If the husband died, then the wife (whether the marriage was consummated or not) became a child widow with her head shaven and forced to wear the widow's garb.
The first college for Women was Isabella Thoburn College in Lucknow which was started in 1870 as a school and later became a college. Queen Mary's in Chennai was started 1914. Much before Queen Mary's was started, the first women graduate in Chennai was Sister Subbalakshmi who attended Presidency College. I remember reading her memoir in Imprint where she says that used to go to college in a rickshaw. She was, in fact, a child widow but her father refused to shave her head. Instead he had her educated. She later opened Sarada Vidayalaya in Chennai where my mother studied.
But education for girls remained a rarity except in few of the highly educated/enlighted houses. The woman professor, most celebrated, was Janaki Ammal who studied in Queen Mary's and later obtained Ph.D at the University of Michigan.
Information about these early women is scarce or at least I have not come across the information. Something to do later on.
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