Paula Bartley is a feminist historian who has written widely on, and promoted, women's history. She is the author of The Changing Role of Women (1996), Prostitution (1999), Votes for Women (2007), and also biographies of Emmeline Pankhurst (2002), Ellen Wilkinson (2014), and Queen Victoria (2016).

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: A Woman in a Man's World: Margaret Bondfield's Early Career, 1873-1929.- Chapter 3: Over the Glass Cliff: The First Female Cabinet Minister, 1929-1953.- Chapter 4: The Mighty Atom: Ellen Wilkinson, 1891-1945.- Chapter 5: The First Female Minister of Education, 1945-1947.- Chapter 6: A Political Apprenticeship: Barbara Castle, 1910-1964.- Chapter 7: In and Out of Cabinet, 1964-2002.- Chapter 8: From Burnley to Lanark: Judith Hart, 1924-1968.- Chapter 9: The First Woman Paymaster General and Beyond, 1968-1991.- Chapter 10: Climbing the Parliamentary Ladder: Shirley Williams, 1930-1974.- Chapter 11: In the Cabinet and Out of Labour, 1974-2018.- Chapter 12: Conclusion.