Women have shaped events and industries in so many ways that aren’t celebrated or sometimes even remembered today.
Hollywood Influence
For instance, did you know that women used to run the Hollywood film industry? Women wrote, directed, starred in and produced many of the silent films of the 1920s.
Mary Pickford made millions from starring in and producing her own films. She liked to have control over all her projects, and when she co-founded the company United Artists she insisted on bright pink toilets!
Women were edged out when ‘talking pictures’ brought in new technology operated by men.
Revolutionary Protests
Did you know that women have been at the forefront of many of the world’s revolutionary protests?
French women complaining about the high price of bread in a Paris market in 1789 ended up leading a march to confront the King and Queen in Versailles. One woman beat a drum to encourage the crowds, and the royal couple were forced to return to Paris where they were eventually put to death.
Another group of women took a cheeky approach when they wanted to protest against a new state religion dreamed up by the revolutionary leader Robespierre: they bared their bottoms!
Business Inspirations
A dynamic group of businesswomen were the Dutch traders in the seventeenth century who worked in the ports running businesses while their husbands were at sea.
English visitors were amazed at the women’s language, writing and mathematical skills as well as their confidence: they chatted with men in the street, visited taverns and ice-skated through the night – scandalous!
All girls in Holland were able to go to primary school, unlike other girls around the world.
Freedom of Mind
One surprising area where women could achieve great things was in convents, where a medieval single woman could live a quiet religious life as a nun without having to marry. Of course, not all single women wanted to be nuns and shut away, but those that did could achieve freedom of the mind, as some women gained the peace and time to study and research.
The most successful example of this is the German supernun Hildegard of Bingen. Hildegard studied philosophy, music, medicine, literature, biology and cosmology. She truly was multi-talented, and made scientific discoveries as well as being famous for her music and religious visions.
Local Doctors
Did you know that village women in the Middle Ages were the local doctors of their time? They delivered babies, treated injuries, and nursed people through illness and disease.
Most villages had their wise woman or healer who used homemade remedies passed down from mother to daughter. Many medical discoveries were still to be made, so some healing relied on charms or strange practices which might have helped the patient by distracting them or allowing time to pass so they got better anyway!
My favourite is the advice to ride a bear for nine paces. This would protect you from nine different diseases! Women were prevented from being healers after medical qualifications were brought in, as they were not allowed to go to universities. Wise women were looked at with increasing suspicion and sometimes even accused of witchcraft.
Thank you to Lou for visiting our blog this week to tell us more about her new book, Shevolution, which is available to purchase from Amazon or Bookshop.
Readers may also be interested in the following booklists
- Fantastic Females Booklist
- Children’s Books about Women and Girls in STEM
- Suffragettes and Women’s Suffrage Booklist
- Girls’ football booklist
- Primary history booklists
- Top-Notch Non-Fiction
- Year 5 booklist
- Year 6 booklist
Browse our curriculum topic booklists for more.
Where next?
> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub
> Browse our Topic Booklists
> View our printable year group booklists.
> See our Books of the Month.