In another special women’s history month blog we hear from Katie Holmes about the remarkable Diane Leather, the first woman to run a sub-five-minute mile Diane Leather made athletics history when, on 29th May 1954, she ran a mile in…
Category: Blog
The Women’s History Network blog
‘Elizabeth’s Group: Bringing a Heroine to Life’ By Dr Maureen Wright, University of Chichester and Susan Munro, Chair, Elizabeth’s Group, Congleton, Cheshire.
We can think of no better way to kick-off women’s history month than hearing about a campaign to commemorate the Vicwardian suffragist and suffragette, Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy. It gives me the greatest pleasure to introduce this blog by Susan Munro…
‘Modern’ Mothers in Ghana’s Newspapers 1960 – 1975 by Dr Holly Ashford
In this latest excellent blog Dr Holly Ashford examines ‘ideas of modern’ Motherhood in 1960s and 1970s Ghana. In 1967, those sitting on Ghana’s Committee on the Status of Women complained that the government wasn’t paying women any attention. Not…
#WE WERE THERE TOO! By Dr. Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins
In our latest fascinating blog, Dr Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins examines the role of, and reception to, women of colour in the history of The League of Women Voters of the United States. On February 14, 2020, The League of Women Voters…
What does beauty mean to you? By Dr Daisy Payling
In November 2019, the University of Essex’s Body, Self and Family project put on a series of health and beauty-themed events as part of the Being Human Festival. In my work as a post-doctoral research assistant on this project investigating…
The Foundation of women’s liberation in Weimar, 1770s-1806 By Dr. Marystella Ramirez Guerra
There was a moment of legal reform and social change in the final decades of the eighteenth century in the small Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Known at the time as the home of Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, and many of…
The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 by Dr Mari Takayanagi
In our latest blog we hear from Dr Mari Takayanagi, one of our keynote speakers from our 2019 conference. In this fascinating blog, Dr. Takayanagi examines one of the most important pieces of early twentieth century social legislation: The Sex…
Nancy Astor’s letters by Susannah O’Brien
In our first blog of 2020, Susannah O’Brien examines vignettes from Nancy Astor’s letters It is over fifteen years since I first came across Nancy Astor’s letters in the wonderful archives at the University of Reading. These letters and their…
Feminist solidarity in the archive: Marie Granet, the Resistance, and me. Emily Hooke
Just like the personal is political, so too is the archive. Here Emily Hooke reflects on Marie Granet, and histories of the French resistance. Last October, I went to the Archives Nationales in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, slightly north of Paris, to examine…