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We’re halfway through Women’s History Month – a time to highlight, celebrate and rightfully acknowledge the contributions and inventions of women. My social media feeds are filled with portraits of truly awe-inspiring women, as well as terrifying accounts of injustice and inequality. I feel inspired and empowered when I stroll through my local library, as they are promote women authors and researchers. There’s no shortage of interesting female characters, I think to myself cheerfully, and flip through a high school textbook.

But, where are the women?

The book in my hand was included in a web article discussing the lack of women in Swedish history textbooks. According to the article, published by SVT (Swedish public service television), there are 255 named individuals in the book. Out of those names, 17 belong to women. Not even 8% of the named individuals, in a history textbook from 2011, are women. Re-read that sentence as many times as you need.

The first named author in world history was Enheduanna – a priestess, princess and poetess in the ancient Mesopotamian city-state of Ur, who lived over 4000 years ago.

The world’s oldest university in continuous operation was founded by Fatima al-Fihri, a Tunisian daughter of a wealthy merchant, in 859 AD.

None of those names appear in the highschool history textbook. Why are there so few women mentioned, overall? Let’s take a look at the subject of history itself for at least part of the answer.

Where are the women of history?

Traditional history and historiography (i.e. the writing and theory of the academic discipline of history, very meta) have often neglected the contributions and innovations of women – not to mention non-binary individuals! Here are a few points to help explain why that is:

• Firstly, there is a very strong bias towards male achievements because quite simply, history was written by men, about men. Documenting politics, expansion, warfare and strong individual leadership was of utmost importance. Furthermore, opportunities to participate in public life was more or less reserved for men. Women were often confined to a domestic sphere and thus their contributions were overlooked. 

• Secondly, since there has been preconceived ideas and notions limiting women’s roles in public life, the written documents and other official accounts are dominated by men and male authors. This leaves us with limited sources on women’s lives – women often lacked the resources or even a platform to document their experiences and contributions.

• Thirdly, gender roles and the societal expectations play into women often acting a supporting role in their spouses pursuits, while solely responsible for unpaid, ”natural”, domestic duties. This is partly why women have been regarded as inferior to men, especially intellectually. Thus, women were dismissed in areas of art, science and from education and research. Women’s contributions were attributed to men such as fathers, husbands or even male colleagues.

• And lastly, traditional historiography puts a heavy emphasis on singular events and ”great men”. This narrative upholds the idea of the singular male genius as a driving force for historical change. This narrative also ignores the collective efforts of a population, including contributions by women – further perpetuating the notion that women’s roles were secondary. 

Historic women and current research

The core issue with a male-dominated narrative, is that it effects how we view women and non-binary people – not only in the past but in the present as well. Modern researchers aim to counter this bias:

• Historians, along with other experts in the broad field of humanities, are actively recasting the narrative. Not only by making intentional efforts to find and share stories of women and non-binary persons but also by including previously overlooked sources like personal letters and diaries, and communal records.

• There has also been a shift towards researching social aspects of history. Moving the spotlight from individual leaders to an expanded view of society highlights the efforts of women and non-binary people. Also, examining people’s everyday lives naturally includes the domestic sphere – traditionally women’s domain – in the narrative. This renders a more vivid and multifaceted historical account.

• Modern textbooks and highschool courses strive towards a more diverse representation by offering a wider range of historical figures. This includes telling the stories of women and non-binary people, who played significant roles in shaping society as we know it.

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If you ask an active historian today, they would probably tell you women are to be found everywhere in the source materials. But the development of a male-dominated historical paradigm in the 1800’s ignored women over all, while exalting individual men. Using the Nordic region as an example, there is no shortage of women in power in the chronicles – and this is where the historiography of history as an academic discipline comes into play again.

Dick Harrison, acclaimed Swedish historian and Professor of History at Lund University, conducted an analysis of women in power in the early medieval era (roughly 600-800 AD). Explaining his research results in the previously mentioned article from SVT, Harrison concluded the norm ruler or regent was a widowed queen in her early forties – a woman of power was not an anomaly. 

The issue of having a quota or ”adding” women into history textbooks also came up. Harrison argues this to be a flawed way of approaching the issue – women have been actively ignored and excluded from Nordic textbooks, even though sources not only acknowledge their lives but also confirm their influence and efforts. He adds that historians have criticised the gender bias in common textbooks for some time now; the textbook authors lack valid reasons for continuing their exclusion of women.

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It’s important to keep in mind that history is an ongoing interpretation. We all glance back in time through a specific lens, using certain methods and sources.

One of the key motivations for starting this blog was to promote forgotten characters and events. But we also wish to ignite discussions about history, and how we as a society and culture communicate stories from the past. By highlighting a historical bias, maybe we can avoid it in the future – and create a more inclusive and inspiring narrative in the making.

References:

• Hammar, Kopito et al. (2016) Kvinnor väljs bort ur historieböckerna. Sveriges Television.
  Retrieved from
  https://www.svt.se/kultur/forkrossande-majoritet-av-man-i-historiebockerna
• Harrison, Dick (2009). Sveriges historia. [båtgravar och hallar, runor, Birka och Uppåkra, härjare, köpmän och väringar, kristnandet, från bygdehövdingar till kungar, Birger jarl och riksformationen, landskapslagar, Stockholm, riddare] 600-1350. Stockholm: Norstedt
• Harrison, Dick & Eriksson, Bo (2010). Sveriges historia. [digerdöden, Kalmarunionen, heliga Birgitta och Vadstena kloster, bondeuppror, Stockholms blodbad, Gustav Vasa, Vasakungar, reformationen, Dackefejden, krig, skatter, riksdag] 1350-1600. Stockholm: Norstedt
• Nyström, Hans, Nyström, Lars & Nyström, Örjan (2011). Perspektiv på historien 1b. 1st ed. Malmö: Gleerup

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