Women in the Livery and High Civic Office in the City is a research paper recently published by Erica Stary LLM, FTII, ATT, TEP Past Master Tax Adviser, Past Master Plumber and Upper Warden Elect Tin Plate Workers alias Wire Workers.

This comprehensive paper explains how the role of women in City Civic life has evolved since the Middle Ages. It’s easy to forget how quickly the livery has changed in this regard. In 1983, when the first female Lord Mayor, Dame Mary Donaldson was elected, more than half of the livery companies were not open to women on equal terms as men. At the turn of the millennium, more than a quarter still did not allow equal admittance. Now, at long last, in 2020, all City livery companies and guilds accept women on equal terms with men, making this a timely moment for this research paper to be published.

Our own Past Master Sylvia Tutt is of course mentioned, being the first Lady Master of a Livery Company in 1983.

As the paper reminds us, women have had a long and significant impact in civic and livery life in the last thousand years. Many Medieval guilds were reliant on the skilled work of women and many buildings only came into the possession of the Livery or the City Corporation, such as the former Bricklayers Hall or Columbia Market, through acquisitions and donations from women.

Click on the image below to view the paper.