Eve Was Framed: Women and British Justice

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That’s the most familiar version of the Adam and Eve story. But here’s another version from a book written in the 2nd or 3rd century called The Testimony of Truth from the non-canonical Christian writings (the writings excluded from the official “orthodox” list of books). Regarding the orthodox version of the Adam and Eve story, The Testimony of Truth says, What sort is this God? First [God] envied Adam that he should eat from the tree of knowledge…. And afterward [God] said, Let us cast him out of this place, lest he eat of the tree of life and live for ever.” Surely [God] has shown himself to be a malicious envier. (Kripal 1) Interestingly, she suggests that the way to achieve equality is for the law to recognise that most women experience very different lives to men and that it should adjust accordingly. This really got me thinking about how we should deal with inequality in the law. Although it is clear that there is injustice, the solutions to this are not always obvious. In my thirties, my mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. It was months before doctors took our concerns seriously because she was so young.

And on that subject, what she is trying to tell you is perfectly argued. This novel might be slightly out of date in its citing of laws passed ten years ago, especially when legal precedent is constantly changing, but generally, what was true then is still true now (unfortunately). While it doesn't take into account recent improvements in legal training and police handling of many legal cases, it pretty much sums up the poor treatment women experience in the British Justice system in a succinct and entertaining way. A powerful and authoritative polemic … Kennedy cites precedents and incontrovertible evidence to show how a 'web of prejudice, privilege and misinformation affects women' in all their dealings with the law … brave, forceful and eloquent. It may even change things. Return mid-week - why overwhelm yourself right off the bat with a 5-day work week. Return mid-week and take some stress off your plate, knowing you have a few days to dive into changes and then a few days to rest

One way of paraphrasing the barely hidden subtext of the Garden of Eden story is that, “Breaking the commandments of orthodox religion, the teenagers experimented with drugs and sex, and there were consequences.” Another slightly more hidden meaning is buried in that line that Eve saw, “the tree was desired to make one wise” — that is, to gain knowledge beyond what one’s childhood community permits, which could include paradigm-shifting scientific knowledge or transgressive moral knowledge that challenges the limitations of social norms. Think of our recent culture wars over evolution, Civil Rights, or same-sex marriage. Twenty-five years have passed since Kennedy published Eve Was Framed, the groundbreaking precursor to her latest work. And while there has been some change – much of it initiated by Kennedy herself – progress has been halting and deep-seated reform is still urgently needed. “The smell of the gentlemen’s club permeates every crevice of the Inns of Court,” writes Kennedy. And it stinks.

The tone of the book is chatty and informal, the vocabulary is complex at times but nothing a dictionary can’t fix, and overall this book gave me a true appreciation of justice as opposed to simply the letter of the law- I couldn’t recommend it enough.

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Eve Was Framed is an eye-opening analysis of the disadvantages that women face in the criminal justice system. Helena Kennedy highlights the ways in which bias plays a role in courts through her own experiences as a barrister, as well as drawing upon case law. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in law. It will give you an understanding of how law interacts with wider society and how rules will impact different groups in different ways. It will give you a sense of the context in which law is applied, which, as a law student, I find incredibly valuable. The twist comes when the serpent enters the picture: “the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals God had made” (3:1). The serpent tells the woman that she should eat the forbidden fruit: “ You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (3:4-5): Where was my health class for fertility, family building, post-partum, breastfeeding, uterine health, perimenopause, menopause, post-menopause?

Next comes the part about God investigating this disobedience, Adam’s cowardly scapegoating of Eve, and God meting out various curses to punish Adam, Eve, and the serpent. But here’s another important part: as God prepares to banish Adam and Eve from the Garden, God says to the other members of the divine court (such as the angels), “ The man has now become like one of us…” (3:22). One key to understanding the dynamics at play in this ancient myth is the many layers of meaning around the word knowledge. You may have heard the phrase, “he knew her in the biblical sense,” meaning “ carnal knowledge,” embodied knowledge. Notice that immediately after Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden for eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we read in the very next verse that, “the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain.” The same Hebrew word for knowledge ( yada) is used both for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as well as for Adam knowing his wife Eve in such a way that a baby was born nine months later. Baroness Helena Kennedy’s Eve Was Framed: Women and British Justice is so much more than a book about law. It is not a book which will tell you what the law is, in which situations to apply the law, how the law is passed etc. That would be function of a textbook. This book is a polemic and therefore asserts Kennedy’s opinion on the injustice of the criminal law by critiquing the intimidating nature of court with the paraphernalia of wigs and gowns, assessing the impact of this mystical element of the law, and talking about her experiences as a very successful female barrister. If you want to learn more about law than the law itself, for example the wider impact of the law on women, social classes and ethnic minorities, then this book is the one for you.

Founders Halle Tecco and Julia Cheek of Everly Health shared thought leadership on how to define women’s health. They were told women’s health is “niche”. Hmmm, “niche” for 50% of the world’s population. We love their take on this topic and will be further exploring our own definition. We want to hear from you too. There’ll be an opportunity in the coming weeks for this community to help us define it. If I were to discuss the book purely based on its content, I'd reach the harsh conclusion that it could have been better. That's not to say the book is not worth reading since it contains its more than fair share of 'inside stories', analysis and theoretical accounts. The Tasting Menu is a group of three to four topics each week to learn more about your body and health to get you to know your body better such as learning how to strengthen your pelvic floor, symptoms you might not realize are from menopause, women and heart health. Thanks for joining us for the invite-only launch. We look forward to evolving based on what we learn and what we hear from you. In organizing our thoughts and research into where the growing investment into women's health and FemTech is going, we found FemTech Analytic’s categorization of the 10 subsectors particularly intriguing: Menstrual Health, Reproductive Health & Contraception, Longevity, Pregnancy & Nursing, General Health Care, Mental Health, Manopause Care, Sexual Health, Pelvic and Uterine Care and Women's Wellness. We’ll explore that more too. Stay tuned.