The Last Bastion – A History of Women in Sport, 1984-2024 by Rachel Hewitt

Purchased by the Friends of the Women's Library in June 2025:

The Last Bastion – A History of Women in Sport, 1984-2024 by Rachel Hewitt

The Last Bastion tells the story of Women in Sport, the UK’s first charity dedicated to breaking down the barriers that have long excluded women and girls from the world of sport. The charity h as been working for forty years to achieve gender equality at every level of sport, from grassroots campaigns to shaping national policy. The book draws on extensive archival research, illuminating the charity’s relentless pursuit of structural change Hewitt examines the backlash against progress, and highlights the persistent cultural hurdles that still keep women and girls from an equal playing field.

Tessa Sanderson, DBE, wrote the foreword and the book is endorsed by other well-known sportswomen, including Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and Judy Murray.

About Our Featured Acquisitions

The Friends of the Women’s Library regularly fund the acquisition of rare, significant, or at-risk materials for the Collection.

Each item featured here has been carefully selected for its relevance to the Library’s mission—whether for its uniqueness, historical importance, or the way it enriches an underrepresented area of women’s history.

While distinctive in its own right, each purchase strengthens the wider Collection and ensures that vital stories are preserved for future researchers, readers, and communities.

We hope these featured acquisitions inspire you to support our ongoing work in expanding it.

Other Acquisitions

The Voices of Nîmes – Women, Sex and Marriage in Reformation Languedoc, by Suzannah Lipscomb
The Voices of Nîmes – Women, Sex and Marriage in Reformation Languedoc, by Suzannah Lipscomb
Many of you will know Dr Lipscomb from her lively history programmes on television, but this book is...
Read More