When my grandmother gave birth, and was told she’d had a girl, she said: “Poor thing.” When I had two girls, I greeted their little lives like hopeful presents. I knew from my experience and that of the women in my family that my daughters faced challenges. I also knew that girl energy drives a better world.
The world was very different – in some ways – when my grandmother had my mum. Men were in charge of households, mortgages and bank accounts. Divorce was rare and scandalous. Abortion was illegal. Schools prepared girls for a life of sewing, cooking and ironing. Few girls went to university, and married women in middle-class households were expected to stay at home. Medical and law schools discouraged young women; so did parliament, the seat of all decision-making, where a total of 38 women were elected as MPs before 1945. Domestic violence was not talked about, much less campaigned against. When Nana worried about the life my mother would have, she had grounds for concern.
