Misogyny is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as, dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women. Talking of Oxford, since conducting research for Fire and Earth, I have had to admonish my alma mater (university, school, or college one formerly attended, Latin, literally, generous mother) when they celebrate the anniversary of the admission of women to Oxford University. Women were first admitted as full members in 1920, meaning they could gain a degree. Obviously that was progress, and something to celebrate. In terms of the old rivalry, the first woman to be awarded a degree by Cambridge was the Queen Mother in 1948, an honorary degree. Cambridge was the last British university to award a degree to a woman. The University of London was the first in 1880. So Oxford were forty years off the pace, what has my research for Fire and Earth got to do with it? We beat Cambridge, why shouldn’t I celebrate that? Well I had researched Bologna and found that they had first awarded a degree to a woman, Bettisia Gozzadini, in 1237. She then taught law there. Dorotea Bucca (that’s her treating a patient in the illustration) was professor of medicine and philosophy in Bologna for forty years from 1390. Spain, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, and Germany, were all ahead of the UK by hundreds of years.
I write historical fiction, so history is important to me. It’s the setting for my stories, and I’m determined to get the setting, characters, and events as accurate as possible, without prejudicing the pleasure of reading. In the third book of the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, The Suggested Assassin, the theme of misogyny fought its way to the fore. However history is there for us to learn from. How are we doing now? The proportion of women undergraduates admitted to Oxford University has risen to 55%. Professors Dame Sarah Gilbert, Teresa Lambe, Sir Andrew Pollard, and Fiona Powrie, were recognised in 2021 for their outstanding contribution to immunology. As Meatloaf sang, three out of four ain’t bad.
I’m sure many readers would tell me that misogyny hasn’t been defeated and that there remain many barriers and glass ceilings still to be smashed. I agree, but I don’t have space here to go into all of them. So I’ve focused on education, with Tony Blair’s catchphrase ringing in my ears. Talking of Prime Ministers, the UK has now had its third female Prime Minister, even if the last one didn’t last long. England’s most successful footballers seem to be women now. The times they are a changing.