Women are said to have been absent in conventional accounts of Scottish history, but Out of Bounds aims to show they were far from passive. Describing their vocal and active part in social, public and institutional life, it tries to refute the view of women as confined to the domestic sphere. The political influence of women in society, from the suffrage movement to women MPs, rent strikes and working class resistance are described, while women's institutional lives (in education, reformatories, prisons and the church) are also outlined. Despite their common struggle, women's roles were strongly class differentiated with middle class women often contributing to the institutional control of working class women and girls. Out of Bounds aims to challenge received wisdom about the role of women in Victorian Scottish society, and contribute to the development of feminist history.