Not for Want of Trying

The First Rape Crisis Centre: How a Movement Became a Lifeline (Prof Alison Diduck)

Welcome to series 2 of Not for Want of Trying, a podcast exploring the landmark cases, campaigns and legislation that have shaped women's rights in the UK and Ireland. 
In this episode, we speak to Alison Diduck – Professor of Law at University College London – about the founding of the first rape crisis centre and how the commitment of the original London Rape Crisis Collective continues to inspire today.
You can find out more about women’s legal landmarks in the UK and Ireland in the Women’s Legal Landmarks books
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/womens-legal-landmarks-9781782259794/ 
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/womens-legal-landmarks-in-the-interwar-years-9781509969746/ 
Instagram: @womenslegallandmarks
Website: https://womenslegallandmarks.com/ 
Sponsored by Hart Publishing, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing @hart_publishing
Artwork: Alex Ciciric
Music credit: Goldfinch: Flight to the North, Axletree, Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0 https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Axletree/erthe/goldfinch-flight-to-the-north/ 
Additional music credit: We are very grateful to Lorraine Segato of The Parachute Club for granting us permission to use a clip from the song Rise Up.

Women and the Law (Lady Hale and Dr Atkins)

Welcome to series 2 of Not for Want of Trying, a podcast exploring the landmark cases, campaigns and legislation that have shaped women's rights in the UK and Ireland. 
Women and the Law – published in 1984 – was the first book in the UK to examine comprehensively the law’s treatment of women. In this episode, we speak to the book's authors – Dr Susan Atkins and Lady Hale – about structural inequalities based on sex and whether a feminist focus on law and its reform remains as necessary today. 
You can find out more about women’s legal landmarks in the UK and Ireland in the Women’s Legal Landmarks books
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/womens-legal-landmarks-9781782259794/ 
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/womens-legal-landmarks-in-the-interwar-years-9781509969746/ 
Women and the law is available to read for free here: https://uolpress.co.uk/book/women-and-the-law/ 
Instagram: @womenslegallandmarks
Website: https://womenslegallandmarks.com/ 
Sponsored by Hart Publishing, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing @hart_publishing
Artwork: Alex Ciciric
Music credit: Goldfinch: Flight to the North, Axletree, Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0 https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Axletree/erthe/goldfinch-flight-to-the-north/ 

The Story Behind the Forced Marriage Act (Pragna Patel)

Welcome to series 2 of Not for Want of Trying, a podcast exploring the landmark cases, campaigns and legislation that have shaped women's rights in the UK and Ireland. 
In this episode, we speak to Pragna Patel (founding member and former chair and director of Southall Black Sisters) about how campaigners pushed for the recognition of forced marriage as a specific form of violence against women.
You can find out more about women’s legal landmarks in the UK and Ireland in the Women’s Legal Landmarks books
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/womens-legal-landmarks-9781782259794/ 
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/womens-legal-landmarks-in-the-interwar-years-9781509969746/ 
Instagram: @womenslegallandmarks
Website: https://womenslegallandmarks.com/ 
Sponsored by Hart Publishing, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing @hart_publishing
Artwork: Alex Ciciric
Music credit: Goldfinch: Flight to the North, Axletree, Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0 https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Axletree/erthe/goldfinch-flight-to-the-north/ 

Episode 12: When Elsy Borders Took on the Speculative Building Trade

In this final episode, we speak to Professor Rosemary Auchmuty about how Elsy Borders’ remarkable case against her building society in the 1930s not only led to changes in law, but was also part of a bigger story about women, property, and justice.
 
Music credit: Goldfinch: Flight to the North, Axletree, Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0

Episode 11: Law, Literature, and 'A Room of One's Own'

Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own is a foundation stone of 20th century literary feminism, but its relevance to feminist law reform is often overlooked. In this episode, we speak to Dr Madeleine Davies about the contemporary impact of Virginia Woolf’s work and the ongoing power of her succinct plea for a room of one’s own and five hundred a year.
 
Music credit: Goldfinch: Flight to the North, Axletree, Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0

Episode 10: The Long Road to Equal Parenthood - Guardianship of Infants Act 1925

In this episode, we speak to Lady Hale – former President of the UK Supreme Court – about the Guardianship of Infants Act 1925. We discuss how the issue of equal guardianship over children was of substantial importance to feminist campaigners of the 1920s, and why we should still be talking about this today.
 
Music credit: Goldfinch: Flight to the North, Axletree, Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0

Episode 9: Sacked for Being Married - How Teachers Fought Back

In the interwar period and beyond, many women were fired from their jobs as teachers, civil servants, and clerical and post office workers, simply because they were married. In this episode, we speak to Dr Harriet Samuels about the marriage bar, and how the history of married women's unemployment is an often overlooked, yet vital part of the story of women's fight for equality.
 
Music credit: Goldfinch: Flight to the North, Axletree, Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0

Episode 8: The Vote Was Just the Beginning - Feminist Organisations Between the Wars

By 1928, equal franchise had been won. But for feminists of the day, this was only the beginning. In this episode, Professor Sharon Thompson discusses why the women's movement in the 1920s and 30s laid the foundations for later feminist fights, and why so much of this activity has been overlooked.
 
Music credit: Goldfinch: Flight to the North, Axletree, Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0

Episode 7: The Indian Feminist Movement and the Former Suffragist - Campaigns to Protect Girls from Underage Marriage

In 1929, both India and England and Wales enacted provisions seeking to protect young girls from underage marriage. How was it that both jurisdictions came to be talking about the age of consent at this time? In this episode, we talk to Dr Laura Lammasniemi and Dr Kanika Sharma about these important interwar reforms, and the role of British and Indian feminists in bringing them about.
 
Music credit: Goldfinch: Flight to the North, Axletree, Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0

Episode 6: 'Better a Pet Dog with a Temper than a Wife with a Venomous Tongue' - Wives, Husbands and Civil Liability for Wrongdoing

Until the 1930s, when a married woman committed a civil wrong or tort, she would not be liable in the eyes of the law. Instead, her husband would be sued for her wrongdoing. In this episode, we speak to Professor Joanne Conaghan about the role of tort law in regulating relationships between husbands and wives, and its ability to promote economic and political equality.
 
Music credit: Goldfinch: Flight to the North, Axletree, Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0