It is a myth that either of the World Wars liberated women.

The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919 was one of the most significant pieces of legislation in modern Britain. It marked at once political watershed and a social revolution; the point at which women of 21 and over were recognised in law as being as competent as men. But were they? What actually happened when this bill was passed? This is the story of what happened next.

Ladies Can't Climb Ladders focuses on the lives of six women - six pioneers - forging paths in the fields of medicine, law, academia, architecture, engineering and the church. Robinson's startling study into the public and private lives of these women sheds light not on the desires and ambitions of her subjects but how family and society responded to the working woman and what their legacy looks like today.

This book is written in their honour. It is a book about live subjects: equal opportunity, the gender pay gap, and whether women can expect, or indeed deserve, to have it at all.
'An important and crackingly good read.' - Telegraph

Arrestingly written…a stirring testament to unsung heroines * The Observer *
A well researched and entertaining read…a wonderful celebration of female pioneers * The Sunday Times *
Robinson writes with an often witty touch, which only serves to throw into furious relief the seriousness of the resistance women faced . . . An excellent companion to Robinson's Bluestockings. * The Financial Times *
An entertaining guide, dipping into ladies’ journals of the time to add levity to what indeed is a serious message. -- Mia Levitin * Spectator *
Jane Robinson’s book is a lesson in how unthinkingly we wear freedom. Well known as a writer and social historian excavating ordinary women’s lives, Robinson focuses this time on the emergence of lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers, architects, scientists and churchwomen after the passing of the landmark law of 1919. Modern professional women will read it with a slow burn of anger and heightened respect for those whose actions, such a relatively brief time ago, made today possible . . . We ride on the shoulders of female giants — courageous, eccentric, clever pioneers. Robinson is a wryly amusing companion and this is an entertaining book, teeming with characters. * The Times *
An important and crackingly good read * The Telegraph *
[Jane Robinson] has come up trumps again with this engrossing, often startling, and arrestingly-titled history of the pioneering women of the early 20th century who were among the first female doctors, lawyers, academics, architects and engineers. * The Bookseller *
A superb and energizing history of the professional women who paved the way for gender equality in law, medicine engineering and many other fields. These women were often derided, ostracised and opposed. They encountered newly made laws to keep them out of male-dominated professions and they overcame these barriers with extraordinary strength. They fought their wars in order to give us the freedom to make our own career choices. Deeply moving at times, this book deserves to be read by young and old to celebrate the achievements of an unforgettable group of women. * Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones President, Medical Women’s Federation, UK *
An engrossing account of the lives of pioneering women who, against the odds, forged careers in the fields of medicine, law, architecture, engineering, academia and the Church in post-First World War Britain . . . Rich in detail, here are the stories of ‘ordinary’ women, not celebrities, which makes the book all the more interesting. * Choice Magazine *
A rich picture of the struggles and successes of those amazing women who trod so quietly to leave such a massive footprint and legacy behind them. * Dawn Childs, President, Women’s Engineering Society *

Jane Robinson is also the author of Bluestockings: The Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education and Ladies Can't Climb Ladders: The Pioneering Adventures of the First Professional Women. She was born in Edinburgh, grew up in North Yorkshire and read English at Somerville College, Oxford. She has worked in the antiquarian book trade and as an archivist, and is now a full-time writer and lecturer, specializing in social history through women's eyes. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical and Royal Geographical Societies, a Hawthornden Fellow, and a Senior Associate of Somerville College. In her spare time she collects books and designs pop-up Escape Rooms. She lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband and two feline assistants, Emmy and Mrs Chippy.