150 years of helping women access work and training
A hundred and fifty years ago this month, a young women had the idea to set up an organisation to help the ‘superfluous’ women of England. Jessie Boucherett’s ‘Society for Promoting the Employment of Women’ was the first to help the thousands of middle-class women who needed to work in order to support themselves. At a time when being a governess or ladies companion was virtually the only occupation open to the genteel, the Society campaigned to make it acceptable for women to work as, for example, book-keepers, typists, printers and hairdressers. Jenni discusses the history of the Society, which changed its name to the Society for Promoting the Training of Women in 1926, with Dr Pamela Hirsch and Dr Anne Bridger. Timely Assistance: The Work of the Society for Promoting the Training of Women 1859-2009 by Anne Bridger and Ellen Jordan ISBN 978 0 9562449 0 1
