Gender Rebels

Meet the unsung sheroes of history: the diverse, defiant and daring (wo)men who changed the rules, and their identities, to get sh*t done.

You'll encounter Kit Cavanagh, the swaggering Irish dragoon who was the first woman to be buried in London with full military honours; marauding eighteenth-century pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny, who collided on the high seas after swapping their petticoats for pantaloons; Ellen Craft, an escaped slave who masqueraded as a white master to spirit her husband-to-be to freedom; and Billy Tipton, the swinging jazz musician, who led a double life as a man, taking five wives along the way. Then there are the women who still have to dress like men to live their best lives, like the inspirational football-lovers in Iran, who risk everything to take their place in the stands.

A call to action for the modern world, this book celebrates the #GenderRebels who paved the way for women everywhere to be soldiers and spies; kings and queens; firefighters, doctors, pilots; and a Swiss Army knife's-worth more. These superbly spirited (wo)men all had one thing in common: they defied the rules to progress in a man's world.

'Essential reading...a funny, beautiful, powerful guide to the unsung heroes...People of the earth: read this book, you will never look at gender the same again.' - Scarlett Curtis, author of Feminists Don't Wear Pink and Other Lies

'Brilliant! Anneka Harry has achieved something special and I feel inspired and galvanized after reading it.' - Gemma Cairney, broadcaster