Unfinished Business

For centuries, women and their allies have fought for women’s rights in all areas of life—bodily autonomy, education, work, culture, science, politics, and history. Their efforts have fundamentally changed the world we live in. And in the midst of today’s highly politicized debates over equality, it is clear that the struggle is not yet over. Unfinished Business, a diverse collection of timely essays organized around the themes of body, mind, and voice, presents the fierce history of women’s rights work in the UK, from early campaigns through the present day. Employing personal diaries, banners, and protest fashion, as well as subversive literature, film, music, and art, contributors reveal how activists have fought for equality with passion, humor, and tenacity. Their frank examinations—of gender fluidity, representation, black women’s educational access, the right to sexual pleasure, the underlying imperialism of early feminism, and more—offer a forward-facing look at the ways the work of the past can act as an engine to power future change. This volume complements and accompanies a major exhibition at the British Library.