This is part two of my interview promoting the WHN conference, ‘Performing the Self: Women’s Lives in Historical Perspective’. You can read part one here. What, if any, are the common misconceptions about women and work in history (I realise this…
Category: Event
Women’s Work, Yesterday and Today, part one.
A few weeks ago, I was interviewed for the University of Warwick knowledge portal about the Women’s History Networks forthcoming conference, ‘Performing the Self: Women’s Lives in Historical Perspective’. You can read the outcome of the interview here, but I…
Still Makes My Blood Boil…
On June 4th 1913, it was derby day at Epsom racecourse. Suffragette, Emily Wilding Davison, ducked beneath the railings and onto the race track, just as King George’s horse Anmer approached Tattenham corner. She rushed towards the horse and was…
Independence Day
The Americans are celebrating their independence from Britain today. Congratulations and good luck to them. But what about celebrating a couple of other, smaller victories from this date? On 4 July 1784 Hester Thrale composed a letter of measured, dignified…
Women’s Social and Political Union in Ireland
In June 1914, the WSPU sent a letter, on headed notepaper with ‘Votes for Women’ emblazoned in purple at the top, to William Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin, demanding that he take interest in their cause. They enclosed the above photograph. Their letter read:…
Wetnursing
Last year, Salama Hayek made headlines when she breastfed another women’s child in Sierra Leone, having to defend her actions and even justify why she was not ‘stealing’ [!!] milk from her own daughter. Yet, wet-nursing (breastfeeding another woman’s child)…
Blogging Against Disablism
Yesterday was ‘Blogging against Disablism’ day, where bloggers everywhere are called to speak out against discrimination against those with disabilities. With that in mind, I began to think about what historians know about women with disabilities in the British past…
Before there was internet, part 2- chain mail.
Anyone who has had an email address for any length of time has probably received a chain-email- one of those emails sending you a poem or a melodramatic story, followed by a dire warning to forward it on to ten…
Sexual Assault Awareness Month
The month of April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, designated to highlighting the ongoing problem of sexual assault in society, and encouraging people to work towards eradicating it. The problem of sexual assault and rape is a topic that has…