Description
Book SynopsisAn original, compellingly told story of women''s fight to represent their country abroad in the face of opposition from the men of the Foreign Office''A fascinating account of the manoeuvres of the leaders of the Foreign Office to prevent the admission of women to its diplomatic and consular services'' Spectator''The women are striking, the trajectories of their often brief careers compelling'' ObserverThroughout the twentieth century and long before, hundreds of determined British women defied the social conventions of their day in order to seek adventure and influence on the world stage. Some became travellers and explorers; others business-owners or buyers; others still devoted their lives to worthy international causes, from anti-slavery and women's suffrage to the League of Nations and world peace. Yet until 1946, no British woman could officially represent her nation abroad. It was only after decades of campaigning and the heroic l
Trade ReviewA lustrous book which traces the often agonising rise of women in the Foreign Office and mercilessly dissects the resistance they encountered *
Peter Hennessy *
A path-breaking account, from one of our leading and most original historians of modern Britain, of how the male-dominated world of British diplomacy gradually – and grudgingly – let professional women in. It should be read by everyone who works in the Foreign Office, or in British embassies overseas, and by anyone, anywhere, who is concerned about the part that women have played, do play and should play, in the making of foreign policy and the conduct of international relations *
David Cannadine *
McCarthy has produced a sometimes humorous but often dispiriting picture of what women who had set their sights on foreign posting continued to experience, long after they had won a toehold in other fields *
Literary Review *
Helen McCarthy has conducted a lot of valuable interviews for her book and researched assiduously *
Evening Standard *
A fascinating account of the manoeuvres of the leaders of the Foreign Office to prevent the admission of women to its diplomatic and consular services *
Spectator *
The women are striking, the trajectories of their often brief careers compelling *
Observer *
This pioneering study gives a penetrating, readable and most welcome introduction to a neglected set of issues, and will be gratefully received by a wide readership *
Times Higher Education Supplement *
