Alicia Little

Alicia Little or Mrs Archibald Little (1845 – 31 July 1926) was a British writer and a campaigner for women's rights and later against foot binding in China.

[2] She campaigned in 1885 when she published a novel called Mother Darling, which highlighted the poor status of women's rights in British marital law.

The magistrate arranged for them to stay at a farm in the hills near the Yangtze River as they avoided the summer heat at their home in Chongqing.

[3] Both of them travelled around China, although Little had to dress as a male to avoid attracting attention, which had on occasion resulted in items being thrown.

[2] In 1898 she founded Tien Tsu Hui (Natural Foot Society) which campaigned against the Chinese custom of binding the feet of girls and women.

[5] Little with the support of her husband organised a campaign of postcards and Little set out to deliver talks in leading cities in China, Hong Kong and Macau.

She had seen and written about the effects of this custom where children's feet and toes were broken before they were bound to prevent normal growth.

Her work has been compared with some external approaches to the custom of female genital mutilation in Africa in the 21st century.

Country House on the Yangtze by Kazumasa Ogawa , as it appears in Little's book
A woman's natural foot and another bound to 6 inches by Dr Garner from Alicia Little's book Intimate China [ 5 ]