had never realised before that a lady’s dress, or even that of a respectable working-woman, was a protection,” she wrote. “The bold, free look of a man at a destitute woman must be felt to be realised.” When staying at a casual ward she learned that the lecherous male porter had a key to her dormitory. When she complained about this, she was told that at another workhouse “the portress left the care of the female tramps to a man almost entirely,” and it was accepted that “he did what he liked with them.”
