My mother, who hated to see me reading the fantasy and science fiction stories I also loved, would smile approvingly at the ballet books. So feminine! So appropriate! And yet…I learnt more about being a feminist from those books than from anything else I read. Because ballet books are inherently subversive to a patriarchy.

Not directly – the word ‘feminist’ was never mentioned. But what was the story, repeated in almost every book, with minor variations in what dances were being performed and how many horses were ridden while on holidays?

Girl becomes young woman while devoting herself unstintingly, joyously and ferociously to her art.

Girl becomes skilled through hard work.

Girl is rewarded for her ambition and dedication.

Dance is a discipline, and the women who wrote these books knew that. You can’t be a professional ballet dancer if you only play at it. It’s all or nothing. And once you accept that, as a writer, you inevitably subvert patriarchal notions of what a young woman should be like. This is also true of singing and acting and music, as shown in, for example, Noel Streatfield’s books. (And all stories which make creative endeavour the main goal are subversive to capitalism, as well.)

Let’s look at Veronica Weston, the heroine of A Dream of Sadler’s Wells and Veronica at the Wells. The first book deals with Veronica’s journey to become a student at the Sadler’s Wells ballet school in London (now the National Ballet School). Veronica is an orphan, sent to live with quite well-off relatives, and struggles to continue her dancing in the wilds of Northumberland. During this book, she meets Sebastian Scott, who has ambitions to be a composer of classical music. The book ends with Sebastian helping her on a wild ride through thick fog to catch a train to her audition – where, of course, she is successful.

Note what Sebastian’s role is in this: the helper, not the hero. (But definitely set up as an age-appropriate love interest.)

The second book picks up with Veronica’s first term at Sadler’s Wells, and takes us through classes, rivalries and more hard work. In that, it’s not so different from a lot of school stories of the time. But what happens at a major turning point? Sebastian, who has been working away at his music instead of becoming a lawyer as his parents wish, has composed his first symphony, and it’s going to premiére in Newcastle. But Veronica gets a telegram from the Ballet saying a part is available for her – her first real part. Sebastian says, ‘Stay! I wrote this symphony for you because I care about you! It’s inspired by you!’

Does Veronica stay and support Her Man at his important part of his life? Is she ravished by the idea of being a muse?

Nope. ‘Sorry,’ she says, with much heart-wringing, and off she goes to London to take up her rightful position on stage. Sebastian is quite cross about this and cuts ties, but she is determined that her career is important. (Subversion alert!)

We then fast forward through the next few years as she gets bigger and bigger parts, culminating in her dancing Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and becoming the newest prima ballerina.

Now comes the second big subversive moment. After the climactic performance, in walks Sebastian, realising that she was right all along, and being loving and supportive. She hasn’t had to give up love after all! She was right to put her own career first.

Those books were written in 1950 and 1951. Think about the messages girls were getting in the ’fifties and ’sixties about the place of women and how they should abandon their ambitions to support those of men. How amazing this story must have seemed to them.

And in subsequent books in the series, Veronica and Sebastian play small roles – we see her marry, have a baby, continue working (at a time when most women were out of a job on the day they married), and thrive.

This image of a girl who puts her creative and career ambitions first and is then rewarded for that by success and an equal, loving partnership for a marriage…that’s subversive even today. It was astounding in 1950, and in the late 1960s when I read these books, but it seemed natural because…well, ballet. Beautiful, entrancing, dainty ballet.

I can’t help wondering how many feminists were budded by ballet books while their mothers looked on, fondly thinking they were learning how to be feminine.

And, as a children’s writer, I wonder what the equivalent subversive content might be for today’s children…

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This story was written for a young relative who loves mermaids. And dolphins.

I hope you enjoy it!

The Mermaid Who Loved Daisies

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There’s been a lot in the media recently around sexism and equality, rights and fairness. Many of these instances are visibly being played out right now in state and federal parliaments, and some are being played out in other sectors as well. It’s like we are being directed to look at equality in the workplace and in our environment, and to ask – Hang on, is that right? Is it fair?

An area where there’s a bright spotlight on inequality is women’s sport. Looking through the annals of Australian history (and even world history), we see the right to play and to be acknowledged as sports women – especially in the traditionally ‘manly’ sports – has been a long and hard-fought battle. If we consider women’s sport in the broader context of women’s rights, it tells an interesting story.

My book Bowl the Maidens Over: Our First Women Cricketers was released in June 2021. It’s a book that details the struggles and criticism the women cricketers endured in 1874 when they played a competitive game in Bendigo, Victoria as a charity match to support the local hospital and asylum.

I didn’t realise at the time of writing, but the book is a reflection of women’s sport as it stands today – where women are ridiculed, undervalued and questioned for their contributions. There is still inequality when it comes to opportunities to play, renumeration, and game coverage in the media. Although, it is great to see more and more organisations advocating for equality.

Although, not everyone in the world is moving forward at the same pace. Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban government recently announced earlier this month that Afghan women would not be allowed to play sports.

Mr Ahmadullah Wasiq, the deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission, made the following statements:
I don’t think women will be allowed to play cricket because it is not necessary that women should play cricket.
In cricket, they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered. Islam does not allow women to be seen like this.

For context, twenty-five female cricketers were awarded contracts by Afghanistan’s Cricket Board in November last year. Afghanistan also has a women’s soccer and football team, although reports have said many female players are now fleeing to other counties or in hiding, fearful for their lives.

Have we progressed?

In the late 1800s, the lady players encountered the following responses to the cricket match:
Unseemly exhibition
Unfeminine
Frisky matrons and forward spinsters

And…

A display of feminine vanity, frivolity and coquetry, inspired by the greed of admiration and of notoriety, and speciously disguised in the cloak of Heaven-born charity?

In 1874, where the women where ridiculed and encouraged not to return to the field – even though they did in 1875 – there was little to support them other than their local community. The wrath had come strongly from neighbouring regions, and most definitely from several of the Melbourne papers. Outside of Victoria in the other Australian states and around the world, the game was reported favourably, and not with criticism. But, no organisation stepped in to support, and each state had well-established cricketing organisations at this time. For example, English cricket teams (men’s) had already travelled to Australia to play.

In Australia in 2021, however, things are different.

Cricket Australia released the following statement on 9 September:
Driving the growth of women’s cricket globally is incredibly important to Cricket Australia. Our vision for cricket is that it is a sport for all and we support the game unequivocally for women at every level.
If recent media reports that women’s cricket will not be supported in Afghanistan are substantiated, Cricket Australia would have no alternative but to not host Afghanistan for the proposed Test Match due to be played in Hobart.
We thank the Australian and Tasmanian Governments for their support on this important issue.

To which the Australian Cricketers’ Association replied:
The ACA unequivocally endorses Cricket Australia’s statement on the upcoming Test Match against Afghanistan.
What is happening now in Afghanistan is a human rights issue that transcends the game of cricket.

And there it is. A human rights issue. That’s exactly what it was in 1874 as well.

Hamid Shinwari, CEO Afghanistan Cricket Board, posted a press release on his Facebook page stating the loss of the test could impact the continuation of cricket (for the men) in Afghanistan if other countries decided to follow Cricket Australia’s example. There was no mention of the effect stopping the women’s team from playing would have on the women. The point, it seems, has been ultimately lost because the women in this scenario are unimportant.
Here we are, in some parts of the world, replicating behaviours from the 1800s, with men deciding how women use their bodies, and if it’s okay or not to be using them for sport. This is really not okay. Women, just as men, have a right to choose.

We are lucky in Australia. Organisations are trying to change things and are making a stand on human rights issues. There’s still a way to go in lots of sectors and things may not be perfect, but there are a lot of people working to make them better – women and men – and I’m pretty thankful for that.

Louise Zedda-Sampson is a Melbourne-based writer, researcher and award-nominated editor. Her debut non-fiction book, Bowl the Maidens Over: Our First Women’s Cricketers, recounts the story of Australia’s first women’s cricketers. Her non-fiction has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and magazines, her fiction in anthologies and online.

You can find out more about Louise at www.louisezeddasampson.com.au

References
‘An update on the proposed Test match against Afghanistan’, Cricket Australia, Twitter, 9 Sept 2021, viewed 15 Sept 2021, https://twitter.com/CricketAus/status/1435784792679747587/photo/1
‘Statement on proposed Afghanistan Test.’, Australian Cricketers’ Association, Twitter, 9 Sept 2021, viewed 15 Sept 2021, https://twitter.com/ACA_Players/status/1435799947983478788/photo/1
‘Press Release’, Hamid Shinwari, Facebook, 10 Sept 2021, viewed 18 Sept 2021, https://m.facebook.com/hshinwari/posts/10160020846388714?comment_id=10160020853878714&notif_ref=m_beeper

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