The Dangerous Women Project was an initiative of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) at the University of Edinburgh. Editors Ben Fletcher-Watson and Jo Shaw have explored this archive to put together this fantastic book that tells the stories of brave, bold and brilliant women across time and around the world who have dared to make changes that helped us all. BooksfromScotland chose five Scottish women from the book to highlight here. You will find their fuller stories and much, much more in this great collection.

Women Who Dared: From the Infamous to the Forgotten
Edited by Ben Fletcher-Watson & Jo Shaw
Published by Edinburgh University Press

DISSIDENTS AND DISRUPTORS

Chrystal Macmillan: Challenging Authority, Championing Equality

Why is she a Dangerous Women?

Throughout her life she challenged the established order, campaigning for women’s rights to full citizenship under the law at home and abroad.

She said in a speech in while campaigning for the vote:

‘Men have made a more comfortable world for boys and men than for girls and women; and the women now want the power to make the world more comfortable for the girls and women without doing any harm to the boys and men. It is not good for men that they should be in the position of tyrants.’

Other campaigns included relief for refugees during the First World War, the International Congress of Women’s call for heads of state to focus on mediation over warfare, and change in both national and international law for women who had married outwith their home nationalities.

WRITERS AND WORDSMITHS

Marjorie Fleming: Dangerous Diarising of Nineteenth-Century Girls

Why is she a Dangerous Women?

It’s probably more accurate to describe Marjorie Fleming as a dangerous girl. In a time when young girls were not encouraged to explore education in particular subjects too deeply, to eschew curiosity, and to communicate and conduct themselves in prescribed ways, Marjorie began writing a diary at six-years-old where she shows a restless mind and one that didn’t self-censor. Though her Victorian editors edited out parts of her diaries when they were published, readers can now enjoy the fullness and joy of her writing.

MONARCHS AND MYSTICS

St Margaret of Scotland: A Dangerous Saint

Why is she a Dangerous Women?

Margaret, the first Queen of Scots, is more commonly known for her piety and as a dutiful wife to Malcolm III, and yet behind this obedience to Scripture lay her real power and threat to the newly-established Anglo-Norman royal line of William the Conquerer, where she and her children had a strong claim. Her influence in changing Scotland’s religious orthodoxy to follow Rome also established Scotland’s place within Europe.

TRAVELLERS AND TRAILBLAZERS

Lady Florence Dixie: Honeyballers and the Dangerous Women of Scottish Women’s Football

Why is she a Dangerous Women?

As a child, Florence joined her brothers in physical activity such as swimming, riding and hunting, riding her horse astride just like them. After marriage, she and her husband joined them in an expedition to Patagonia, which she wrote about in her book Across Patagonia. She also wrote of her time in South Africa covering the Boer War in In the Land of Misfortune. She also supported the campaign for women’s suffrage and wrote the feminist fantasy novel Gloriana, or the Revolution of 1900 where women win the right to vote and take an active role in politics.

But she is featured in Women Who Dared due to her pioneering work in football. In 1894 she began to put together a women’s football team. She was joined in her endeavours by Mary Hutson, who named herself Nettie Honeyball, and Helen Matthews. After Florence’s death, women were banned from playing football, but her influence remains with the pioneers who fought for the women’s game after her.

POLITICIANS AND PEACEMAKERS

Mary Barbour: Beware!

Why is she a Dangerous Women?

Mary Barbour became active in her community when she moved to Govan, joining the Kinning Park Co-operative Guild, the Socialist Sunday School, the Independent Labour Party and the Glasgow Women’s Housing Association. She was instrumental in the leadership and organisation of the Rent Strikes during the First World War, the tenants named ‘Mrs Barbour’s Army’, and in the demonstrations against the prosecutions. She also campaigned on food shortages and the anti-war movement. After the war, she was elected to the Glasgow council and fought for better council houses, free school milk and children’s playgrounds. When she became a Bailie for the City of Glasgow, she supported the establishment of its first birth control clinic, despite opposition from her Socialist MP colleagues.

Women Who Dared: From the Infamous to the Forgotten edited by Ben Fletcher-Watson & Jo Shaw is published by Edinburgh University Press, priced £12.99.