Category Archives: Articles

Bullet Proof Ms

With the sad news of the death of Stephanie Kwolek, the inventor of  Kevlar, reproduced here is the short piece written by Michael Williams about her, from the final edition of HerStoria Magazine. 

Where are the Women in School History?

Sue Johnson takes an historical look at the curriculum ….. `Why didn’t I know that before?` and `… but Women’s History is real history!’ are both familiar cries from undergraduates on women’s history modules. Why are they only making this

Railwaywomen: from backstage heroine to train driver

Railways are imbued with maleness to their very core. Everyone connected with the creation and operation of railways was male: business men and financiers, architects and engineers, navvies and bricklayers, managers and operating staff. The masculinity of railways was reinforced

Secret Agent - Part 2

Yvonne Baseden

It took hours. We were all lying in this aircraft, you know on the bare metal and we could hear a lot of banging going on. We couldn’t see a thing. Then the dispatcher used to come round and say

Secret Agent - Part 1

Yvonne Baseden

Juliette Pattinson interviews Yvonne Baseden and tells the story of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during WWII

Lily Montagu, Religious Reformer and Social Worker

By Rabbi Lawrence Rigal Today both Liberal and Reform movements now have women Rabbis and they use new prayer books written in inclusive language, where God is no longer referred to in male terms. All of this directly followed on

Eglantyne Jebb, 1876-1928, Founder of Save the Children and champion of children’s rights

By her biographer, Clare Mulley Eglantyne Jebb, an unlikely children’s champion? ‘To succeed in life, you must give life’ Eglantyne Jebb once wrote. But she herself did not give life in the traditional way expected of a well-to-do Edwardian lady

Women and femininity in the history of science

By Claire Jones Women have always participated in scientific endeavour, even before the term ‘scientist’ was invented. (The term ‘scientist’ is usually attributed to William Whewell, Cambridge academic, who used it in its modern sense in 1841, but some scholars

Bathsua Makin, c 1608-1675

Scholar, writer, educator and early feminist

Bathsua Makin was one of a group of women, look including Christine de Pizan, Margaret Cavendish and Mary Astell,

Zabillet - the mother of Joan of Arc

 By Joy Bounds Introduction The story of Joan of Arc (Jehanne) is well known. A young, fifteenth-century peasant girl, she led the French army successfully against the English occupiers, and was later captured and burnt at the stake at the