'Misogyny must be made a hate crime'

There could scarcely be a better time, therefore, to bring out a book dedicated to the strong, courageous women who, for centuries, have been battling oppression and prejudice to make a difference in the life of Sarah's hometown.

Claire Shaw couldn't have known that when she began work on her book 'Women of York' a year ago, of course. The former York teacher, who moved to Tenerife last summer, finished her book while living as an expat on the largest of the Canary islands. It will be published on March 28.

But even from her sun-drenched Spanish island, Claire admits she has been following events back home with real dismay.

"I was shocked and devastated to read the news about Sarah," she said. "My heart goes out to her family and friends, whose pain I cannot imagine.

"Like countless other people, I am also in shock that the prime suspect is a member of the Metropolitan Police. Her (Sarah's) case tells us that there need to be changes in the law to offer more protection to women from physical violence and verbal harassment.

"Misogyny needs to be made a hate crime. More people need to lobby parliament to ensure that the laws against domestic violence are strengthened and sentences are increased. More safety nets for women suffering from domestic abuse need to be created. The crime of stalking needs to be prosecuted with seriousness. The Criminal Justice system needs an overhaul and more funding so that reported rape is prosecuted.

"There is still a lot of work to be done for women to gain equality all over the world and women are going to have to galvanise to demand change, like they are doing now."

Read Sarah's new book, and it becomes pretty obvious that women have been suffering at the hands of treacherous men for a very long time.

She begins her book with an account of the life of Cartimandua, who was the hereditary Queen of the Brigantes - the Celtic tribe that controlled much of northern England - in the years just before the Romans marched north and set up a fortress at Eboracum in 71AD.

The Celts were a quarrelsome people, made up of many squabbling tribes. Cartimandua, who reigned for at least 26 years, formed an uneasy alliance with the Romans, no doubt hoping this would be the best thing to ensure stability for her people.

She was ultimately rewarded by being divorced by her husband Venutius - who fled to rejoin his own people in Cumbria, then promptly invaded Cartimandua's lands.

The queen had to be rescued by Roman auxiliaries in 69AD - and promptly disappeared from history.

Claire describes her as "a pragmatic woman and a wise ruler who saw that any attempt to defy Rome would be met with devastating consequences for her and her people. She preferred peace and diplomacy to war. Ultimately, she survived in a world dominated by brutal men. Perhaps this is her greatest achievement."

Life was little better for women 500 years later when Princess Ethelburga of Kent married King Edwin of Northumbria here in York.

England at the time was divided up into rival Saxon kingdoms, each ruled by a warlord. At the time of his marriage to Ethelburga - on the site of what today is York Minster - in 625AD, Edwin was one of the most powerful of these.

Ethelburga, a Christian, was essentially a political and religious pawn, Claire says - her marriage to Edwin was seen both as a way to form an alliance between Kent and Northumbria, and as a way to persuade Edwin to convert to Christianity.

Edwin eventually did so - and even ordered that work should begin on a new stone church, which would eventually become the city's first cathedral. His new religion didn't curb his ambition, however. He continued warmongering - and in 633 he was killed in battle against the rival Saxon kingdom of Mercia, in today's midlands.

Ethelburga fled back to her native Kent then, after spiriting her children away to safety in France, became the Abbess of the French monastery of Brie. She eventually returned to Kent and built a church, where she is buried. Claire writes that after her husband's death, Ethelburga was effectively forced to seek sanctuary in a monastery. Being an abbess was a rare chance for a woman to 'wield influence and power in a man's world'.

Claire writes in detail about 10 strong women with connections to York in her book - among them St Margaret Clitherow, executed for her beliefs in 1586 by being by being crushed to death in the most horrible manner on Ouse Bridge; Anne Lister, who 'married' her lesbian lover Ann Walker at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate in 1834; Mary Tuke; and the artist Mary Ellen Best, who is, Claire says, unfairly forgotten. "I am still surprised that the three exquisite watercolours owned by York Art Gallery are not on permanent display," she says.

She also devotes time to women who fell through the net of what their times counted as respectability. There's a whole chapter, for example, on York prostitutes - and the calamitous affect on their lives of the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1864, 1866 and 1869. Under the last of these, Claire notes, prostitutes could be made to undergo enforced examination - and if found to be suffering from venereal disease, could be imprisoned for up to a year. "If the woman resisted examination, hard labour was added to her sentence," Claire writes.

It was when she first moved to York in 2009 that Claire got the idea for writing a book about the Women of York. She became fascinated by the city's history - but was shocked at how little was known about the city's women. Then she came across several blue plaques dedicated to women - and started researching.

Covid has given her plenty of time to write the book, she laughs - even if it had to be completed on an island off the coast of Africa.

She would find it hard to single out the one York woman who has done most to break down barriers. But if she was forced to pick, she might go for Mary Tuke. "I love the story of Mary, who took on the restrictive monopoly created by the all-male Merchant Adventurers’ Guild and battled with them to be allowed to trade in the city," she says.

"Finally, they relented after seven years of prohibiting her from trading, but she had to pay some heavy financial penalties. I think she made the greatest contribution in terms of women’s rights because she was actively discriminated against in a repressive male-dominated society, but ultimately succeeded against the odds."

Claire is very aware that she hasn't included any contemporary women in her book. So could there be another book to come?

Possibly. She'd love to write about the author Kate Atkinson, who was born in York and set her first prize-winning novel ‘Behind the Scenes of the Museum’ here. "Another writer from York is Fiona Shaw who has had her novel ‘Tell it to the Bees’ made into a film," she says. "Then there is Fiona Mozley who wrote ‘Elmet’ while working in a bookshop in York. So maybe I’ve happened upon the subject of another book - ‘Women Writers of York!'"

Watch this space...

Women of York will be published by DestinWorld, priced £12.99, on March 28. Copies can be preordered now from Amazon or destinworld.com