A Little Request ...
I was going to write an International Women’s Day post, celebrating a particular woman I think hasn’t had nearly as much attention as she should have. But I’ve written about her before (in Spare Parts, in various research papers, and on here); I’ve also spoken about her on the radio, and in fact told a room full of people about her just yesterday. She might need more attention in general, but if you’re reading this you’ve probably reached Marie Anne Leroudier saturation point.
Instead, I want to make this a short post — a request, a call.
You know how I’ve been interviewing working-class professionals and asking for their messages for people starting their careers? Well, I think we need to hear from more working-class women.
I have two (possibly three) working-class women with messages for us, but we haven’t managed to synchronise our diaries yet.
And there must be more!
I feel this should somehow be easy because in my work life, most people are women. When I was a junior academic, most of my colleagues were women; when I work with museums, most of my colleagues are women; everyone who worked on Spare Parts, from my agent to my editor and publicity people, is a woman. But it’s not easy at all — not many of these women would describe themselves as working class.
Here’s my plea, then:
Please, please send me a message on here or email me at p.craddock@ucl.ac.uk if you are a working-class woman professional. I’d love to hear from you. We would love to hear from you.
Thanks so much, and Happy International Women’s Day!
She Wrote the Songs
I love and celebrate my wife every day, but on this day in particular you should know about her book, She Wrote the Songs (links to Patricia’s website). It’s a collective biography of forgotten female hit-makers of the Victorian parlour. Perfect present for those snobs and bigots in your life who think music made in domestic places isn’t serious enough!