A Woman's Work Synopsis
GUARDIAN AND NEW STATESMAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017
**Winner of best memoir at the Parliamentary Book Awards**
Now with a new epilogue for the paperback
'Compelling ... She has guts to spare ... An important story ... Role model? You bet' Tim Shipman, Sunday Times
'So human and inspiring, and my favourite book of the year so far' Rohan Silva, Guardian
When Harriet Harman started her career, men-only job adverts and a 'women's rate' of pay were the norm, female MPs were a tiny minority - a woman couldn't even sign for a mortgage. But, she argues, we should never just be grateful that things are better now. There's still more to do.
In A Woman's Work Harriet, Britain's longest-serving female MP, looks at her own life to see how far we've come, and where we should go next. This is an inspiring and refreshingly honest account of the part she has played (and the setbacks along the way) in the movement that transformed politics and women's lives - from helping striking female factory workers to standing for election while pregnant, from her memories of her own mother to her success in reforming the law on maternity rights, childcare, domestic violence and getting more women into parliament. But it is also a call for women today to get together and continue the fight for equality. If we don't, no one else will.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780141983868 |
| Publication date: |
1st February 2018 |
| Author: |
Harriet Harman |
| Publisher: |
Penguin Books an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
408 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Biographies & Autobiographies
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| Recommendations: |
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Harriet Harman Press Reviews
'If I had a teenage daughter, especially one who didn't see the point of politics, this is the book I'd buy her. Chatty, accessible and occasionally eye-opening, it's a history of the things conventional political memoirs miss out - written by someone who built a career on things conventional politicians missed out ... [A Woman's Work is] a lively account of the one subject most political memoir writers know next to nothing about: how it felt to be a woman working in one of the least forgiving (and when she was elected in 1982, most macho) careers around' -- Gaby Hinsliff, Guardian
'Compelling ... She has guts to spare and is interesting on the difficulties of a work-life balance in parliament ... Her own judgments on her performance are commendably unsparing ... An important story ... Role model? You bet' -- Tim Shipman, Political Editor Sunday Times
'The truth about Harriet, not often acknowledged, is that she is that rare politician who has consistently stood up to the powers that be, both Labour and in other parties. This book is a primer in what it takes to do that ... If I ever had doubts about Harriet's total devotion to the cause, I don't now ... There are wonderful vignettes of the clash between family and career ... It says everything that this book ends with Harriet offering us her ten top tips for the feminist struggle. The title is A Woman's Work and, as we know and especially for Harriet, it's never done' -- Ann Treneman The Times
'A painfully honest memoir ... where lesser politicians would have slunk from public gaze, Harman reacted by getting tougher' -- Mary Riddell, Sunday Telegraph
About Harriet Harman
Harriet Harman was elected as Labour MP for Peckham in 1982. Joining a House of Commons which was 97% male, she had three children while in Parliament. She has been politics' most prominent champion for women's rights, introducing the National Childcare Strategy, the Equality Act and changing the law on domestic violence. She was the first woman to represent the Labour Party at Prime Minister's Questions.
More About Harriet Harman
