Veronica Beechey (born 1946–2021) was a British feminist sociologist and patient's rights advocate.

Early life and education

Beechey was born in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

and grew up in Battle, Sussex. She attended Ashford School for Girls and

Hastings College Hastings College is a private Presbyterian college in Hastings, Nebraska. History The college was founded in 1882 by a group of men and women seeking to establish a Presbyterian college dedicated to high academic and cultural standards. ...

. She studied sociology at

Essex University The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Ess ...

, achieving a first in her degree, before going to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

to complete a doctorate.

Academic career

After teaching in America, in 1973, Beechey became lecturer in Sociology at

Warwick University , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...

, before being recruited by the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

in 1983 to initiate a

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

course. In their article 'Woman and the Reserve Army of Labour: A Critique of Veronica Beechy', Floya Anthias raised questions around Beechey's 1977 article 'Some Notes on Female Wage Labour', while also recognising that it was "the most sophisticated and influential attempt to analyse women's wage labour by using or reconstituting the categories of Marx's Capital". Beechey's book, ''Unequal Work'', published with Verso in 1987, was influential in feminist and women's studies. The book contains nine essays explaining "Beechey's proposals for a more flexible and equitable vision of employment for both women and men in the future". ''Unequal Work'' is recommended as further reading in the 'Women at Work' chapter to the Macmillan ''Introducing Women's Studies Feminist Theory and Practice'' handbook'','' 1993, and is extracted in the Women's Studies Essential Readings handbook also in 1993. Beechey co-wrote the book ''A Matter of Hours'' with Tessa Perkins. The book looked at rise of part time work in postwar Britain, and how there was a gender disparity in who was offered part time work. The book was considered a significant contribution to labour market analysis.

Patient advocacy

In the 1980s, Beechey was diagnosed with acute

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, or chronic fatigue syndrome, which led her in 1990 to retire from the OU. As a patient at the

University College London hospital University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) is an NHS foundation trust based in London, United Kingdom. It comprises University College Hospital, University College Hospital at Westmoreland Street, the UCH Macmillan Cancer ...

, between 2005 and 2019 she served three terms as patient governor, taking on the role of the hospital council's first lead governor in this time. She founded - and chaired for six years - a High Quality Patient Care Group to represent the needs of patients to the board of directors at the hospital. During her illness, she published articles with

OpenDemocracy openDemocracy is an independent media platform and news website based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, openDemocracy states that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to "challenge power and encourage de ...

critiquing the ways in which she saw "the needs of bureaucracy or even business" over patients, and discussing how "politicians and advisors on the one hand and the public and NHS staff" have divergent ideas about what is best for the NHS.

Selected publications

Books

* ''Unequal work'' (London: Verso, 1987). * ''A Matter of Hours: Women, Part-time Work and the Labour Market'', co-written with Tessa Perkins, 1987.

Articles

* 'Some Notes on Female Wage Labour', Capital and Class No. 3 (1977) * 'On Patriarchy', ''Feminist Review,'' 3, 66–82 (1979) https://doi.org/10.1057/fr.1979.21

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beechey, Veronica 1946 births 2021 deaths Alumni of the University of Oxford British women academics British women activists British feminists People from Hastings