JK Rowling writes essay on 'standing up for women' for new book on campaign to protect rights

The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht will be published this month

A new essay by Harry Potter author JK Rowling explaining why she decided to "stand up for women" is to be published in a new collection charting a five-year campaign to protect the "sex-based rights" of women in Scotland.MP Joanna Cherry, MSP Ash Regan and former prison governor Rhona Hotchkiss will also be writing in the new collection, which is being published later this month to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament.The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht, which has been co-edited by The Scotsman columnist Susan Dalgety, will feature more than 30 essays.Its publisher says the book will explore how "a grassroots women’s movement, harking back to the suffragettes and second wave feminists of the 1970s and 1980s, took on the political establishment – and changed the course of history."

The publishers said Ms Rowling's essay will explain “why she used her global reach to stand up for women.”

The author said: “I’m very proud to have contributed an essay to this book, alongside many women I’m proud to call my friends.

“For non-Scots, ‘wheesht’ means ‘be quiet’ or ‘hush up’, but I suspect you could have worked that out from the context…”

Plans for the book have emerged after newly-appointed First Minister John Swinney admitted the Scottish Government was unable to press ahead with controversial legislation which was aimed at making it easier for people to change their gender without a medical diagnosis, but has raised concerns that it will threaten the rights of women.

The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht is being published on 30 May by Constable, an imprint of the Little, Brown Book Group.

The description of the new book on Little Brown’s website states: “It is the story of women who risked their job, reputation, even the bonds of family and friendship, to make their voices heard, and ended up – unexpectedly – contributing to the downfall of Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first woman first minister.”

Writer J.K Rowling poses on the red carpet at the world premiere of the film Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore in London in March 2022. Picture: Tolga Akmen / AFP

Susan Dalgety has edited the book with Lucy Hunter Blackburn, an author, researcher and former civil servant at the Scottish Government,

They said: “This book has been over a year in the making.

"It is a first draft of the history of five years of women’s campaigning in Scotland to defend sex-based rights, up to the point of Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation in February 2023, told by some of the women who raised their voices.

"We are especially proud that it includes such a range of contributions, from the grassroots to one of the most famous women in the world.

A new collection of essays, The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht, will be published on 30 May. Picture: Susan Dalgety

"It has also been developed with an eye to discussions we knew would take place this summer around the 25th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament. Recent events only emphasise its relevance.”

Constable publishing director Andreas Campomar said: “These women risked their jobs and reputations, not to say their friendships and family ties, to speak out.

"The contributors in this book show how a climate was created, one in which true political change could occur. These are the women who wouldn’t wheesht.”

Details of the new book have been announced days after it a new poll found that more Scots broadly agree with Ms Rowling over transgender issues than disagree, a new poll for The Scotsman has found.

The poll, by Savanta, found 41 per cent of respondents said they tended to agree with the author's views more than they disagreed, while 23 per cent said the opposite.