A #SaturdayMotivation thread of our amazing Scottish foremothers who knew being divisive is the path to change.1st, Rose Klasko Kerrigan, sacked at 14 for speaking against WWI. She scandalized Glasgow’s only birth control clinic by seeking contraception before she had kids. /1

Next 1000s of Scottish suffragettes,criticised in their struggle for 'being divisive'. These women took militant action as well as raising petitions etc. My fave is Mary Maloney who followed Churchill round Dundee in 1908 ringing a bell because he wouldn't address the issue. /2

Sophia Jex Blake who caused dreadful division in the medical community by seeking to become a doctor. Tut tut, Sophia. She was described by contemporary Elizabeth Blackwell as ‘a dangerous woman’ because of her steely determination to break down closed doors. She succeeded. /3

Jacobite women. Jacobitism v Hanoverianism was Civil War. These lasses busted ppl out of jail, misdirected armies, hid fleeing soldiers. So. Fucking. Divisive. Flora MacDonald got Bonnie Prince Charlie away, then fought for the British in the US. Division personified. /4

Women in Scotland have always stood up for their views even when this wasn't the norm. In 1872, a group of domestic servants formed the Dundee and District Domestic Servants Assoc, the 1st assoc of its kind - a union for domestic staff. V divisive at the time. /5

Public opinion was divided about the Rent Strike on Red Clydeside, fired by formidable quine, Mary Barbour, who encouraged tenants to pelt rent collectors with eggs and flour. Quite. Right. Condemnation of 'division' is naive. We need our difficult conversations. /6

There's no progress w/out 'divisive' debate & indeed sometimes, action. Civilisations that don't have those debates & change accordingly die. And yes I wrote a book (of course I did) with all these amazing women & many more. https://www.historicenvironment.scot/archives-and-research/publications/publication/?publicationid=55960f63-3bd9-48e7-a2c9-aa6200d4f55c #Sheroes every one

BONUS divisive Scottish woman: Quaker Eliza Wigham, anti-slavery campaigner who's been described as 1 of the 6 key women in the British Transatlantic anti-slavery sisterhood. They campaigned (against huge opposition) to free indentured workers in the US. Legend. So proud of her.

So stuff everybody agreeing about everything. Divisive debate is mandatory if we want change, and everything that is going on right now, is a product of it having been time for change for some time, and people NOT engaging in enough divisive debate. So there.