‘Even at the early age of three, I had some instincts as to the relations of cause and effect, and the basic need to remove the cause of the trouble.’[1] Her words become an epitaph in Kay Keasey’s spirited Australian…
Tag: women’s work
On the Strength of Invisible Hands
The struggle for equal pay dates from way before the nineteenth century. Women have campaigned rarely knowing of the women who have gone before. The identities of many are lost in the past, although reinstatement has sometimes come through…
No More Rights to be Won?
Youthful arrogance is not limited to eras, individuals or generations. It permeates political movements, particularly where past oppression and greater disadvantage colour the work and its record. History reflects this for women in all periods, all battles. Conventional history, ways of working, and recording herstory colour women’s demands through centuries and how women’s campaigns are see.
Standing On Their Shoulders!
When appointed to the United States Supreme Court by President WJ (Bill) Clinton in the 1990s, Ruth Bader Ginsberg said: I would not be in this room today, if it were not for the women and men who…
Women of True Grit – Scottish Women’s Hospitals
It was during a visit to Belgrade, Serbia that I was first made aware of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals and the work they did during the First World War. What saddened me was that the women involved are known about…
GRANTHAM: Moral Panic in the First World War
‘Men’ who did not ‘get into the war literature’ such as ‘cleaners, launderers and the like’ were, in fact, usually women. The Grantham Labour Exchange worked out a scheme for washing garments by collecting them on Mondays and returning them on Fridays. Each woman was expected to take about twenty-four sets of washing per week, a set comprising four garments from each man; for this she would be paid 3½d per set which would entitle her to 7s per week. It was thought that the plan would benefit local washerwomen by a total of £218 per week …
Suffrajitsu – The Jiu Jitsu Teacher of the Woman’s War
In 1907 she was featured as the protagonist in a short film entitled Jiu-Jitsu Downs the Footpads, which was produced by the Pathé Film Company and by 1908 Edith and William were running the Golden Square School. In the 1911 census Edith and William were both listed as a ‘teacher of Jiujutsu, the Japanese art of self-defence’.
(Some) Women’s History OnLine …
… there can be little doubt that at this time, despite not infrequent denials of ‘knowledge’ the world was well aware of the genocidal ideology and practices upon which Adolf Hitler’s regime was founded:
‘Still going on as pitilessly as brutally as it did five years ago is Goebbels’ persecution of the Jews. Signposts at city limits bear the legend, “Jews not wanted, Jews keep out.” Even in parks, if Jews are allowed at all, special yellow benches are set apart, labelled, “For Jews.”’
Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ is quoted: ‘All propaganda must be confined to a few slogans … repeated over and over … until the last man [sic] understands what they mean.’
Port Women’s History
So many presentations included women as subjects, were presented by women, were gender aware, and brought comments from women that it felt like the most gender-inclusive conference on maritime history that I’ve attended since the world’s first (and, still, only) conference on Women and the Sea in Wellington, NZ in 1992.
It’s also the first time I’ve ever seen more women than men at a maritime history-related conference (28 women, 25 men). In maritime history conference until a decade ago the presence of another woman was often so unusual that we would rush up to introduce ourselves;‘A sister in the field, at last!’