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Until recently, Labour women politicians were largely absent from the history bookshelves. This was for two main reasons. Firstly, political historians focused on male rather than female politicians. There are plenty of biographies of powerful Labour men, e.g. Aneurin Bevan, Clement Attlee, Ernest Bevin, Herbert Morrison and Harold Wilson, but few about, for example, the first woman cabinet minister, Margaret Bondfield. Secondly, women’s historical writing concentrated on women who were not in the public eye, rather than those in high politics. There were only 11 women Labour cabinet ministers in the 20th century, six of them appointed by Tony Blair at the very end of the century. Yet these few women played an important role in shaping the laws of Britain: they reformed the educational system; they brought in equal pay; they made driving safer; and they created a fairer international system. Attention should and must be paid, I believe, to these splendid pioneers.