But when it comes to the nuances and complexities of housing trans women in female prisons, her usually fiercely critical eye is strangely absent. Having been through and felt the conservatism that pervades the bar myself, it’s helpful to be escorted back to an era when radicalism was sweeping universities – the London School of Economics witnessing revolts and protests against Vietnam, for example – while at the Inns of Court, just a few hundred metres away, “the main topics of conversation were the Field Club Ball and the Fencing Club”. The book opens with the mysterious description of the Inns of Court, and of the many obstacles encountered by women who aspire with be barristers. Sticking with prisons, the one oddly flabby note in the book comes in a few pages where Kennedy discusses trans prisoners. The given statistics will convince you of the existence of prejudice and double standards for women everywhere in the court: whether it is behind the Bar or the bars.

Not only does it tackle women's issues brilliantly, but it never fails to keep in mind that class and race are also major factors in women's discriminations. Kennedy does a reasonable job of looking at this issue through a more intersectional lens, particularly in terms of race and class. it did get a bit repetitive at points and it took on a rather informal tone but i suppose if you like that then it won't be a problem.A petite fireball, Kennedy grew up in the Glasgow tenements, both her parents having left school at 14. Helena analyses the treatment of women in the British Legal system, including those who work in it, are victims, the accused, and convicted criminals. Twenty-five years have passed since Kennedy published Eve Was Framed, the groundbreaking precursor to her latest work. Shortly afterwards, the president of the US led thousands in laughing at Ford as he stood on a stage and mocked her testimony.

Her analysis of how such women fail to conform to what remain white, male ideas about appropriate female behaviour and femininity in court – and are penalised accordingly – is incisive. Juries are instructed to compare the behaviour of defendants to that of 'a reasonable man', an absurdity which surely hampers the defence of women; what constitutes provocation must be inflected by power structures including gender. She visited the Chelsea Flower Show, which for a person of colour can still feel like a fairly brave thing to do. She was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s in her fifties and we lost her entirely too soon in 2010.As my friends were starting families, some quietly shared how many challenges they had in breastfeeding and how hard it was. And if women “had confidence in the justice system and men really feared the shame and consequence of misconduct”, she says, “we would not be seeing a resort to anonymous accusations”. It is really not as simple as the fact that law is sexist -- the problem runs deeper and the solution is beyond complicated. That said, it did leave me wanting to read more from this author, to understand the further issues within the system and what can be done to help and to see how attitudes have changed in the years since this book was published. It is fascinating to read about the days when women were openly described as unsuitable for the judiciary for being “too primly spinsterish” or “off-puttingly headmistressy”.