Museums need feminism, not just women, in their collections and engagement activities. Displaying lots of Queen Victoria and Mrs T artefacts, then having Teresa May cut that pink ribbon while sporting her ‘This is what a feminist looks like’ T-shirt simply won’t change the world. Guerilla Girl artist-activists might.
WHN members considering what they might do with their research findings might be interested in this message from Dr Jenna C Ashton. She was speaking at the Feminism and Museums Live! event on Saturday 24 March at the People’s History Museum. It was part of …
My new history book is just out. I’ve got some insights (from this and previous books), and I now see what I should have done ages ago. So I thought it might be useful to share thoughts on the process with WHN members who are yet to be published.
The book is Women and the Royal Navy (IB Tauris/NMRN). It’s a trade book (sometimes called a cross-over book), which means it’s accessible AND written with scholarly rigour. For example I had to find simple ways to say ‘patriarchy’, ‘hegemony’, ‘the gender …
Black and Asian women’s history, as we know, has been very wrongly neglected. For over 20 years until 2011 it was being usefully retrieved – and presented in short, accessible pieces – by publications such as the Black and Asian Studies Association Newsletter. But I’ve just discovered this no longer exists. (For update see http://www.history.org.uk/resources/general_news_1566.html).
Surely this WHN blog can be one of the e-places where the history of Black and Asian women is still, and increasingly, given the centrality it deserves.
Black women on slave ships
Women’s maritime historiography shows us several areas we can explore, …
http://womenshistorynetwork.org/blog/?p=4650 (accessed 23 February 2015)
Women – LGBT History Festival
Jo Stanley with face painter & artist Samina Bukhari at LGBT festival 2015
The 1990s: against violence against women
Obviously Linda Belos’ work segued into the 1990s and to today too. The 1990s were the focus of sessions including Dr Kate Cook‘s session Lesbians and Feminism. Kate spoke about ‘her involvement in the 1990s struggles to end rape and about the involvement of lesbian feminists in the movement against violence against women and girls.’
The 2000s to today: ‘usualising’, educating, exploring
Celebrating all the way, Manchester at Valentine’s weekend was the site of the path-breaking first LGBT history festival. And women were high profile in this event ‘ Uncovering & celebrating our past to enlighten our present & thereby guiding our creation of a more inclusive & equitable future.’
Organising LGBT History Month is always a miracle, each year. And organising Schools Out year around is also a feat. A festival –with all its volunteers and battles with lack of funding, is a mega-feat beyond compare. So it’s absolutely right that equalities campaigner Sue Sanders, one of the three key …