Women in history

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

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?

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

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

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?

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.

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

Cleopatra, Boudicca,Eleanor of Aquitaine?

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.

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.

Outside of poltics, Marie Curie?

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.