Happy Women's History Month!

[ArabellaScott]

I had no idea women got a whole month!!!

I can't wait to see the flags flying from every government building and all the celebrations of women in history everywhere. 😊

I plan to update whenever I find something interesting, and encourage anyone else with an interesting story about women's history to do the same!

I've done a search and can't see any mention of this website having been mentioned on MN before https://monumentalwelshwomen.com/

'Monumental Welsh Women is a not for profit organisation dedicated to recognising the contribution of women to the history and life of Wales. Until September 2021, there were no statues of real Welsh women in Wales - not one! We are working to change this. Our mission is to erect 5 statues honouring 5 Welsh women in 5 different locations around Wales in 5 years. It's a huge challenge. So far, we have commissioned and unveiled three statues - of Betty Campbell in Cardiff, Elaine Morgan in Mountain Ash and Cranogwen in Llangrannog. We have two more in the pipeline [my note: these are Elizabeth Andrews and Lady Rhondda. Biographies and other information about all of the women are on the website].

In 2016, a group of women working in Cardiff got together to do something about the fact that there was not one single statue in the whole of Wales of a ‘real’ Welsh woman. Despite the amazing contribution of Welsh women to life in Wales, their achievements had not been celebrated in the way that men’s successes often have – by being immortalised, commemorated and celebrated with public statues.

At that first meeting, Monumental Welsh Women was born, with the initial intention of trying to get just one statue of a historical woman erected in Cardiff. At the time, Cardiff was undergoing a dramatic redevelopment around the old bus station. We persuaded Cardiff Council that the area around the new Central Square would be the perfect place for a statue. But not just any statue – the first statue of a historical Welsh woman, an artwork that would be world class, and a city landmark that everyone who visited Cardiff would want their ‘selfie’ in front of.

The next challenge was how to choose the woman to be celebrated. We worked with Women’s Equality Network Wales to draw up a list of 100 Welsh women to celebrate the centenary of women getting the vote in 1918 – 50 contemporary women and 50 historical women, all of whom were celebrated at an event in the Senedd in 2018.

From that list of 50 historical women, we worked with a panel of experts to shortlist 5 women who we thought best illustrated the breadth and depth of the achievements of Welsh women over the centuries. And then, working with the BBC, we put those 5 women to a public vote. The BBC produced and broadcast a series of short films on the lives of the 5 women and asked the public to choose their favourite. The winner was announced in January 2019.

But we then decided that one statue was simply not enough. The public response to the vote was fantastic and many people called for all 5 women to be commemorated. And so we have set ourselves a challenge: to erect 5 statues commemorating the 5 amazing Welsh women on the shortlist, in 5 locations around Wales in just 5 years.'

Oh, that is fantastic. I love 'the Descent of Woman'!

Will look into the other women noted.

Shocking, but not surprising that there are no statues of named Welsh women.

‘In the UK, there are 82 statues of men named John and just 128 of named women’.

Here's a lovely project, a woman setting out to visit all of the 128 statues:

https://womenstatuesuk.com/

https://www.instagram.com/p/C8ERm24Mw_K/

The Welsh website has been added to since I last looked at it for a work-related project. I was in contact with them a couple of years ago when they were planning the unveiling of the first statue of Betty Campbell in Cardiff and the plans have moved on so much since then. I hope they don’t stop after the five. Although I don't think I could commit to visiting the 128 UK ones, much as I'd love to, I’m tempted, when the last Welsh statue is in place, to plan a trip to visit all five.

All of the women’s stories are amazing: the poem ‘When I speak of bravery’ by Taylor Edmonds about Betty Campbell makes me cry. Cranogwen - qualified master mariner able to captain a ship anywhere in the world, trailblazing bardic poet, teacher, lecturer, campaigner… and did you read the quotes on the pages fluttering away from Elaine Morgan? https://monumentalwelshwomen.com/the-hidden-story Elizabeth Andrews’ - her work in education, welfare and politics, her motto “Educate, Agitate, Organise”, applicable right now to anyone campaigning for women’s rights today. Lady Rhondda’s activism for women’s suffrage and legislation for welfare for women and children, her global leadership in business, her work for the arts...

It makes me so angry that women’s stories have been deemed insignificant, or deliberately ignored or silenced, or just carelessly overlooked and not bothered about because of our sex. The material record is so lacking and, although I think that putting money into statues when money is needed for crucial things like housing and food and welfare, the inspiration from the symbolism of determined, talented, brave women from the past is invaluable. We need heroines. The film of the unveiling of Elaine Morgan’s statue shows a couple of the young school girls from the choir talking about it being an honour to take part and watching that has made me cry again. (Think I’m having a bit of an emotional day today, for other reasons as well as this!)

Thanks, SoupDragon, I have now stumbled on Morgan's most recent book - Pinker's List, which looks fascinating - a response to Steve Pinker's 'Blank Slate'.

'Women are raising each others’ consciousness every day.'

Elaine Morgan

Thanks for the heads up. I've added Morgan as an author to explore on my ever-expanding tbr list, including her relatively short autobiography which I've found online here https://folk.ntnu.no/krill/morgan/Morgan%202012.pdf.

https://thepilgrimsguide.com/projects/the-medieval-vulva-signs-and-symbols-of-sexuality-in-medieval-pilgrimage/

It's nearly March. So a good time to read about vulvas on medieval pilgrim badges.

Pic.

Oh. That one may not pass review, tbh 😂

That's one of the most WTF things I've ever seen.

Yes, Errol. I've tried to find out what the meaning or reason for these badges was, but so far, most historians seem to be also coming up with WTF.

https://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2012/05/the-vulva-goes-on-pilgrimage.html

Amazing.

https://www.lionheartreplicas.co.uk/Bawdy-Badges.html

'It has recently been suggested by Malcolm Jones that this remarkable badge may in fact be an early proto-protestant attack on the Catholic church. Although very un-Christian to modern minds, processions were held in which a crowned statue of the Virgin Mary surrounded by a rayed mandorla would be paraded through the streets on her feast days. This type of idolatry goddess worship was anathema to the emerging Protestants who themselves held similar mock processions in protest. This early salvo in the war that was to tear the Church apart may well have inspired the creator of this badge. '

That’ll learn them heathen catholics!

So, it’s a piss take?

That is fascinating.

What a find, Arabella! Thank you for kicking off WHM 2025 so spectacularly!
It gives a whole new interpretation to the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe..

An Iron Age body found in Ireland, previously assumed to be male, is revealed to be female:

'Dating to approximately 343 to 1 BCE, the remains are over 2000 years old and date to the prehistoric period known as the Iron Age. Osteoarchaeological analysis has now revealed the body to be female, a discovery made all the more significant as the majority of bog preserved individuals that have been found from this period are male.

The individual had an estimated stature of around 5 foot 6 inches. While the body was well preserved, the skull was absent and was not recovered. Cut marks on the neck vertebrae indicate the cause of death as an intentional decapitation in the bog. This may be part of a pattern of ritual and sacrifice during the Iron Age period.

Part of a woven item made of plant material was also recovered from below the knees and is thought to be part of an associated artefact. The museum is currently working with specialists to identify what this artefact could potentially be and are describing it as a woven plant-based fabric, likely associated with the individual and dating to this period.

As per the naming convention applied to similar discoveries – the townland where remains are found paired with the sex of the individual – the remains will now be referred to as the “Ballymacombs More Woman”.'

https://www.nationalmuseumsni.org/news/ballymacombs-more-woman

Edit to add newspaper article:

https://www.newsletter.co.uk/education/ballymacombs-more-woman-ancient-remains-discovered-in-bellaghy-bog-likely-to-belong-to-young-woman-4999071

And I'll just reiterate that last wee para:

'In line with the naming convention applied to similar discoveries, ie, the townland where remains are found paired with the sex of the individual, the remains are now to be referred to as the Ballymacombs More Woman.'

😊

Although I know that Ballymacombs More means the Townland of the Son of [something like Uma] and More means Big [mór] in Irish, I can't help hearing 'More than a woman, more than a woman to me-e-e' by the Bee-Gees every time I read 'Ballymacombs More Woman'😄

Am I alone is wishing that, when they had carried out all the tests and saved all the imaging and samples, that they gave these poor people a decent burial?
They were human beings, they still are the remains of human beings, and I don't like the idea of keeping them in glass cases in museums to be gawped at😠
Sorry for the derail/rant.

I also feel quite iffy about putting human remains on display, particularly ones where the irregular burial might have been a punishment or disgrace in the first place.

But the thing that I find really exciting about that is the plant-fibre textile, that is really unusual, possibly unique. There's loads of woolen textiles, leather, hair etc from bog deposits, hardly every plant fibres - they don't survive in the acid conditions.

Years ago I went to see that exhibition of Dr von Hagans - Bodyworlds. It was profoundly upsetting, and I hadn't expected it to be so. I suppose I'd been told it would be shocking or revolting, so I had steeled myself for that, and thought it'd be fine as I'm not squeamish.

In fact it was horribly sad, and I hadn't been prepared for that. It felt very wrong to have people's bodies on display. Hard to describe, but it suppose it felt like a desecration.

there's also the evidence that the bodyworld exhibits include bodies sold to them without consent of the families or of the deceased. Very morally questionable, and certainly likely to make the whole set up feel haunted.

Yes, I recall all of that coming out, too.

I tend to have a robust attitude to bodies, or grave goods, on display. They tell us our history as humans, how we loved each other and wanted to endow each other with what was needed in the afterlife. Profoundly human and moving.
Where death was a punishment I feel that seeing the person and speaking of them, in whatever disjointed way we can, in some sense gives them an immortality that those who caused their death do not have, and may not deserve.

Although I know that Ballymacombs More means the Townland of the Son of [something like Uma] and More means Big [mór] in Irish, I can't help hearing 'More than a woman, more than a woman to me-e-e' by the Bee-Gees every time I read 'Ballymacombs More Woman'😄

I haven't read The Dalkey Archive in many years, but I was always tickled by the man who wanted to call his property Lán Mór, but the signmaker spelled it... well, you can guess.

From time to time I try to pick up a little Manx, and reading what's basically Irish with English spelling does make me giggle.