The War on Women, and the Brave Ones who Fight Back




                                                                     by Sue Lloyd-Roberts and Sarah Morris (2016)

This was not an easy read.  Yes, one is broadly familiar with most of the forms of savagery that are meted out on women, (a knowledge for which we most likely have to thank the likes of Sue and her fellow journalists), but the sheer horror of these atrocities is brought home by the reporting of the stories of the individuals who underwent these experiences. 

It doesn't start out gently either.  We jump straight in with female genital mutilation, from whence we proceed to the appalling grief of Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, then on to the wash house persecution of "fallen" women in Ireland and so on, unrelentingly, until we reach the last chapter on the UK's gender pay gap (completed by Sue's daughter, Sarah, after Sue's early death), which seemed to promise some respite, but in the end just left you feeling furious.  Throughout, I had to take a break between each chapter to calm down and to wonder what on earth can be done to prevent these sorts of thing from ever happening ever again.

An essential if terrifying read.

Rating 9/10

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