Women in history

[SomebodySaveMe]

Just a bit curious really as I'm studying history and can't believe how male dominated my textbooks are. I know that there were women who made a huge difference yet they appear to get very little mention.
Who would you say are your greatest female historical figures?

[ZZZenAgain]

I wouldn't say I see her as a role model or that I approve of her approach to serfdom, but I think Catherine the Great of Russia was a strong and intelligent personnage and that she did a good job on the whole in light of what was thought to be a monarch's role in those days . I find her an interesting character but I am not sure I would say she made a "huge difference" tbh.

[ZZZenAgain]

Outside of poltics, Marie Curie?

[Xenia]

Queen Elizabeth I. Her half sister.

Joan of Arc although rumour has it she might have been male...

The books are not really wrong though - in plenty of ages women have not got a huge look in in terms of power in many cultures.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

You shouldn't be too surprised that history books are male-dominated. Institutionalised female oppression and exclusion has been the norm from the mediaeval period up until comparatively recently. Still is in the more backward parts of the world. When the Bronte sisters submitted their manuscripts using male pseudonyms and via their brother as their representative, it wasn't because they were being shy and retiring.

One of my favourites is Florence Nightingale. Excellent statistician as well as pioneering reformer of the nursing profession.

[WitchOfEndor]

Cleopatra, Boudicca,Eleanor of Aquitaine?

[JuliaScurr]

cogito you're on the right lines, imo. OP, you need a book explaining why women have been out of the picture historically. The Open University did a book and a course 'The Changing Experience of Women' which wre good

[ClothesOfSand]

I think it depends what kind of history you are doing. If you are interested in a history of powerful individuals and what they did then you are going to have to mainly study men. If you want to study women or indeed the majority of people who have ever lived, then you need to look at something like rural studies, collective social movements, the history of work or the history of class.

[edam]

Eleanor of Aquitaine, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Fry, Bess of Harwick, George Eliot... and that's just the letter E off the top of my head! History is full of men because women have been oppressed and history was written by men for centuries but in recent decades some historians and feminists have attempted to redress the balance by finding the hidden women. It's a shame if your textbooks are still ignoring them. What period are you studying?

[edam]

And Elizabeth Garrat Anderson - popped into my head as soon as I hit 'post'.

[edam]

Oh, and apparently Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Millicent Fawcett were sisters. Amazing family.

[MissPricklePants]

Im a wannabe historian (trying for phd funding) and specialise in social/cultural gender history in the C19th. the info regarding women is there, you have to dig around for it though. What period are you studying?how old are your books?

[TheFallenMadonna]

I read this in the summer, and found it really interesting about women's political influence.

[rosy71]

Emmeline, Christabel and Sylvia Pankhurst, Beatrice Webb, Vera Brittain, Elizabeth Garret Anderson, Mary Wollestonecraft, Maria Montessori. I'm a but hazy on earlier history apart form the obvious one such as ELizabeth 1st.

[rosy71]

Im a wannabe historian (trying for phd funding) and specialise in social/cultural gender history in the C19th. the info regarding women is there, you have to dig around for it though. What period are you studying?how old are your books?
sounds great! I did a lot of 19th century history during my degree and still love it!

[rosy71]

Jane Austen, Boudicca, Nefertiti.

[strandednomore]

Mary Seacole

[MissPricklePants]

rosy its awesome isn't it?! Most people glaze over when I start chatting about it. I try to base my research on things that are important to women now and then research those issues in the C19th iyswim. OP I suggest you read gender and the politics of history by joan wallach scott which is a useful text on gender and history.

[TheSmallClanger]

Alexandra Kollontai
Sojourner Truth

There have been a few interesting queens and Grand Duchesses in Europe too, who would be worth investigating.

[mamalovesmojitos]

Hildegard of Bingen is an interesting figure.

[SomebodySaveMe]

I'm studying medieval to modern so 1400-1900. I'd like to look at women in history for my next course but can't find one (with the OU). It just seems a bit depressing, I've never really notices gender issues etc before mumsnet and now I'm seeing it everywhere!

[SomebodySaveMe]

A course I mean I can't find. Not a woman in history

[Mumtydumpty]

Someone said it already but Mary Seacole - the black florence nightingale. She wrote an autobiography about her experiences in the Crimea and elsewhere. Amazing woman.

[KTisTIRED]

Eleanor of Aquitane, Mary Queen of Scotts, Bess of Hardwick, Jacquetta Woodville, Catherine the Great, Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire... there are loads. I love history books and always look for the ones about women because you get so much more of the social history as well as the politics

[WidowWadman]

When I did history I found the dates and names of the powerful actually much less interesting than the history of every day lives - I've done a few modules on marginalised groups and no surprise, there was a lot of women in the text books there - and how women were even further marginalised within marginalised groups.
I had written a short paper/presentation on meretrices and joculatrices - female members of spielleut (medieval migratory bands of musicians etc - sorry my English vocabulary is a bit hazy in that area), who often had even a lower social standing than their male counterparts through accusations of prostitution, and often were forced into prostitution. Found that very interesting and looking at how women were and are treated in a broader context I think is more enlightening than going "look, but there's a woman who was powerful" or "oh, there's a woman who achieved xyz" - I don't need historical figures to tell me that women are just as capable of being good politicians/scientists/whatevers.

One thing the history books tell you is that women normally are less given the chance to achieve something great.