Tag: Women's History
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Woman’s Work: The Elusive Embroiderers of the Bayeux Tapestry
Despite remaining one of the most celebrated works of medieval art, there is little discussion of the women behind the creation of the Bayeux Tapestry. Naomi Wallace discusses the theories surrounding its origins and the needleworkers responsible for this famous masterpiece.
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The History of the Bikini: Clothing as Evidence of Female Oppression
With a history dating as far back as 5600 BC, the story of the bikini is one of liberation and resistance, although not without conservative backlash. Isabelle Shaw examines the link between changing fashions and women’s autonomy.
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Double Deviant: Criminalisation of and Attitudes Towards Female ‘Sin’ in Nineteenth Century Britain
Written by Sophie Whitehead. The history of female crime is largely dominated by stories of sex workers and infanticide. But how does the theory of female crime contribute to the history of crimes associated by women? Sophie Whitehead explores the history of women in crime literature.
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Was Anwar Sadat a Feminist?
Written by Amy Hendrie. The conflicting legacy and motivations of the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat is explored by Amy Hendrie. A complex figure, Sadat in several ways raised the position of women in his country, even if it was for his own ends.
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All’s Unfair in Marriage and Divorce
Written by Sophie Whitehead. How has gender inequality historically been expressed in marriage and divorce law? Sophie Whitehead examines how deep-seated, yet often subtle, discrepancies have evolved, and in some cases remain, in England and Wales.
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Anna Komnene: The Struggles of a Female Historian in Medieval Times
Written by Dido Papikinou. Sources from the medieval period are almost entirely male-centred – written by men, written for men, and written about men. To examine, therefore, the account of a woman on the First Crusade, is an opportunity Dido Papikinou considers invaluable to understanding the female experience of this period.
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The Pill that Changed the World: A Complicated History
Written by Sophie Whitehead. The history of birth control pills is not commonly understood, despite their presence in the everyday lives of hundreds of millions of people. Sophie Whitehead discusses its murky history both in relation to narratives of historical exceptionalism and uncomfortable associations.
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Divorced, Beheaded, Survived: Who was Catherine Parr?
Written by Eva Campbell. Catherine Parr is perhaps the least discussed of Henry VIII’s wives, dismissed as the carer or nurse that comforted Henry at the end of his life. But did the woman who survived have a more complex relationship with the King? How do we restore the life of Catherine Parr in popular imagination?
Retrospect Journal 