While we were all attached to Jess’ Girls, and agreed that it was integral that Miss Hill’s work and legacy remained central to our project, we thought that it limited our broader appeal, as no one would know who Jess was, or why she had girls in the first place. We wanted to ensure that the new name of the project would stay true to Miss Hill’s ethos: focused on the women and interested in a unified understanding of their circumstances and social bond. After a long period of discussion, our Chief Executive Officer, Ruth Graham, came up with “Ironclad Sisterhood.” 

Ironclad Sisterhood is inspired by the physical representation of the real and heavy chains that shackled convict women. Their sisterhood was ironclad, literally. Equally, Ironclad Sisterhood is concerned with the metaphorical chains, the burden of being ascribed an identity with negative connotations that impacted their very real circumstances. Then socially, these women were connected in an ironclad social understanding of their place socially and culturally.