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Original poster

Women in history

38 replies

SomebodySaveMe · 29/01/2012 14:46

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?

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StewieGriffinsMom · 01/02/2012 14:17

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bejeezus · 01/02/2012 14:17

Rosa Parks

StewieGriffinsMom · 01/02/2012 13:10

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StewieGriffinsMom · 01/02/2012 13:07

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messyisthenewtidy · 30/01/2012 20:52

I've just ordered They Went Whistling which is about adventurous women in history. Looks really good..

StewieGriffinsMom · 30/01/2012 12:33

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MoChan · 30/01/2012 09:52

Margaret Roper, brilliantly clever daughter of Thomas More. Published a translation of a work by Erasmus at a time when that was basically unheard of, presumably frowned upon.

CogitoErgoSometimes · 30/01/2012 06:45

Check out former slave Harriet Tubman 1820 - 1913. Very interesting life as a US abolitionist who, amongst other things, helped black slaves escape the South via the 'Underground Railroad'.

LineRunner · 30/01/2012 01:51

The OU's Classical Studies module is excellent. It looks at the role of women in ancient Athens in relation to that of men, and explores the construction of these and other identities (eg slaves, foreigners) not just as perceived in the 5th century BC but also through the prism of historical writing.

down2earthwithabump · 30/01/2012 01:29

I love Marie Curie, Florence nightingale, Edith Cavell a nurse in WW1, mother Maria Elisabeth skobzoff, and Mother Superior Elise Rivet both nuns in WW2, mother Theresa, pankhursts, queen Elizabeth the queen mother, bronte sisters... Wiki any you don't know.

rosy71 · 29/01/2012 21:37

Whoops, pressed post too soon. I did a unit on the History of the Labour Movement which featured women very prominently, both as leaders and as union members e.g. in the mills in Lancashire. Nothing in the course title would have made you think of it as "Women's History" though.

rosy71 · 29/01/2012 21:35

When I did history I found the dates and names of the powerful actually much less interesting than the history of every day lives
Me too. If you're studying any sort of social history, there'll be women featured, probably quite prominently, even if you don't think so from the course title.

WidowWadman · 29/01/2012 19:46

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.

KTisTIRED · 29/01/2012 19:37

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

Mumtydumpty · 29/01/2012 19:28

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.

Original poster
SomebodySaveMe · 29/01/2012 19:04

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

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Original poster
SomebodySaveMe · 29/01/2012 19:02

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!

OP posts:
mamalovesmojitos · 29/01/2012 19:01

Hildegard of Bingen is an interesting figure.

TheSmallClanger · 29/01/2012 18:42

Alexandra Kollontai
Sojourner Truth

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

MissPricklePants · 29/01/2012 18:35

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.

strandednomore · 29/01/2012 18:16

Mary Seacole

rosy71 · 29/01/2012 18:13

Jane Austen, Boudicca, Nefertiti.

rosy71 · 29/01/2012 18:11

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 · 29/01/2012 18:10

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.

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