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What comes to mind when you picture the “Great Modernist Artist”? Perhaps a brooding Picasso in his Montmartre studio, a sharp-suited James Joyce declaiming in a Zurich cafe, or a rebellious Marcel Duchamp challenging the art world with his readymades. This iconic image of the Modernist genius is overwhelmingly, persistently male. For decades, the narrative of Modernism was a story of the “Men of 1914,” a chronicle of male rebellion against a patriarchal past. But this is a profound historical distortion. Women were not merely on the sidelines of this revolution; they were at its very heart, often pioneering the…
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The history of Operation Condor, the clandestine terrorist network of 1970s South American dictatorships, is often told through a lexicon of male-dominated power: juntas, generals, comandantes, and militants. The canonical images are of men in uniform, men in suits, and men holding rifles. Yet, to confine the narrative to this sphere is to miss its beating, brutal heart. The full story of Condor—its mechanisms, its impact, and its ultimate undoing—is inextricably linked to the experiences of women. They were not peripheral actors but central figures, cast in roles that reveal the deepest pathologies of the state terror apparatus and the…
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In the modern age, no group has been more closely watched, analysed, and marketed to than women. From the moment department stores opened their doors and glossy magazines landed on parlour tables, women became both the chief subjects and targets of a new consumer culture. They were encouraged to see shopping as liberation, appearance as self-expression, and consumption as participation in modern life. But behind this glittering promise lay a complicated reality. The same culture that invited women into the marketplace also confined them within its images. This is the story of how women, fashion, and media reshaped one another—from…
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When we picture the architects of our modern economy, who comes to mind? We see industrialists in top hats, bankers in boardrooms, and perhaps legions of men in flat caps marching out of factories. The story of economic history, as it’s almost always been told, is a story about men. It is a narrative of male innovation, male labour, and male genius. And according to historian Dr Victoria Bateman, it is a monumental falsehood. In a compelling episode of the Explaining History podcast, Dr Bateman discusses her new book, Economica: A Global History of Women, Wealth and Power, a hugely ambitious project that…
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Introduction: Beyond the Adelita Archetype In the popular imagination, the women of the Mexican Revolution are often relegated to the romanticized archetype of the Adelita—a loyal camp follower, a source of comfort and domesticity amidst the chaos of war. While the soldaderas who fulfilled these crucial support roles were undeniably vital to the revolutionary armies, this narrow depiction obscures the multifaceted and often martial contributions of women in the conflict. It is within this historiographical lacuna that the story of Petra Herrera emerges, a figure who defied the gendered expectations of her time to become a respected and formidable military leader. Herrera’s life,…
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Introduction The imagery of the Iranian Revolution is indelibly marked by the figure of the veiled woman. Photographs from 1978-79 show countless women, clad in chadors, marching in the streets, confronting soldiers, and shouting slogans against the Shah. To a Western audience, this iconography presented a profound paradox: why would women actively participate in a movement that would ultimately seek to restrict their rights and mandate their veiling? This question has fueled a contentious and evolving scholarship that seeks to move beyond orientalist tropes and simplistic explanations to understand the multifaceted agency of women in one of the twentieth century’s…
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A Quick SummaryWomen were far more than just camp followers in the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). They were active participants in every facet of the conflict, serving as soldiers, spies, nurses, political organizers, and journalists. These women, often called soldaderas or Adelitas, challenged traditional gender roles and made immense contributions to the revolutionary cause, though their stories were often overlooked in official histories. From commanding troops on the battlefield to organizing feminist congresses, women were a vital force that shaped the course and outcome of the revolution, and their involvement had a lasting impact on the struggle for women’s rights in…