What Is Womens History - A Short Overview

In what way is womens history distinct from the broader study of history? Why study womens history and not just history? Are the techniques of womens history any different from the techniques of all historians? How Did the Study of Womens History Begin? The discipline called womens history began formally in the 1970s, when  the feminist wave  led some to notice that womens perspective and earlier feminist movements were largely left out of the history books. While some writers had presented history from a womans perspective and criticized standard histories for leaving women out, this new wave of feminist historians were more organized. These historians, mostly women, began to offer courses and lectures that highlighted what history looked like when a womans perspective was included. Gerda Lerner is considered one of the major pioneers of the field, and Elizabeth Fox-Genovese  founded the first womens studies department,  for instance. These historians asked questions like What were women doing? in various periods of history. As they uncovered a  nearly-forgotten history of womens struggles for equality and freedom, they realized that  short lectures and single courses would not be adequate. Most of the scholars were surprised at the amounts of material that were, indeed, available. And so the fields of womens studies and womens history were founded, to seriously study not only the history and issues of women, but to make those resources and conclusions more widely available so that historians would have a more complete picture to work from. Sources for Womens History The pioneers of the womens history wave uncovered some important sources, but they also realized that other sources were lost or unavailable. Because at most times in history womens roles were not in the public realm, their contributions often didnt make it into the historical records. This loss is, in many cases, permanent. For instance, we dont even know the names of the wives of many of the early kings in British history because nobody thought to record or preserve those names. Its not likely well find them later, though there are occasional surprises. To study womens history, a student has to  deal with this lack of sources. That means that historians taking womens roles seriously must be creative. The official documents and older history books often dont include much of whats needed to understand what women were doing in a period of history. Instead, in womens history, we supplement those official documents with more personal items, like journals and diaries and letters, and other ways that womens stories were preserved. Sometimes women wrote for journals and magazines, too, though the material may not have been collected as rigorously as writings by men have. The middle school and high school student of history can usually find appropriate resources analyzing different periods of history as good source materials to answer common historical questions. But because womens history has not been studied as widely, even the middle or high school student may have to do the kinds of research usually found in college history classes, finding more detailed sources that illustrate the point, and forming conclusions from them. As an example, if a student is trying to discover what a soldiers life was like during the American Civil War, there are many books that address that directly. But the student who wants to know what a womans life was like during the American Civil War may have to dig a bit deeper. She or he may have to read through some diaries of women who stayed at home during the war, or find the rare autobiographies of nurses,  spies, or even women who fought as soldiers dressed as men. Fortunately, since the 1970s, much more has been written on womens history, and so the material that a student can consult is increasing. Earlier Documenting of Womens History In uncovering womens history, many of todays students have come to another important conclusion: the 1970s may have been the beginning of the formal study of womens history, but the topic was hardly new. And many women had been historians—of women and of more general history. Anna Comnena is considered the first woman to write a book of history. For centuries, there  had  been books written that analyzed womens contributions to history. Most had gathered dust in libraries or had been tossed out in the years in between. But there are some fascinating earlier sources that cover topics in womens history surprisingly astutely. Margaret Fullers  Woman in the Nineteenth Century  is one such piece. A writer less known today is Anna Garlin Spencer, although she enjoyed more fame in her own lifetime. She was known as a founder of the social work profession for her work at what became the Columbia School of Social Work. She was also recognized for her work for racial justice, womens rights, childrens rights, peace, and other issues of her day. An example of womens history before the discipline was invented is her essay, The Social Use of the Post-Graduate Mother. In this essay, Spencer analyzes the role of women who, after theyve had their children, are sometimes considered by cultures to have outlived their usefulness. The essay may be a bit difficult to read because some of her references are not as well known to us today, and because her writing is a style current nearly a hundred years ago, and sounds somewhat alien to our ears. But many ideas in the essay are quite modern. For instance, current research on the witch crazes of Europe and America also looks at issues of womens history: why was it that most of the victims of the witchhunts were women? And often women who didnt have male protectors in their families? Spencer speculates on just that question, with answers much like those in todays womens history. In the earlier 20th century, historian Mary Ritter Beard was among those who explored the role of women in history. Womens History Methodology: Assumptions What we call womens history is an approach to the study of history. It is based on the idea that history, as it is usually studied and written, largely ignores women and womens contributions. Womens history assumes that ignoring women and womens contributions leaves out important parts of the full story. Without looking at the women and their contributions, history is not complete. Writing women back into history means gaining a fuller understanding. A purpose of many historians, since the time of the first known historian, Herodotus, has been to shed light on the present and the future by telling about the past. Historians have had as an explicit goal to tell an objective truth—truth as it might be seen by an objective, or unbiased, observer. But is objective history possible? Thats a question those studying womens history have been asking loudly. Their answer, first, was that no, every history and historians make selections, and most have left out the perspective of women. Women who played an active role in the public events were often forgotten quickly, and the less obvious roles women played behind the scenes or in private life are not easily studied. Behind every great man theres a woman, an old saying goes. If there is a woman behind—or working against—a great man, do we truly understand even that great man and his contributions, if the woman is ignored or forgotten? In the field of womens history, the conclusion has been that no history can be truly objective. Histories are written by real people with their real biases and imperfections, and their histories are full of conscious and unconscious errors. The assumptions historians make shape what evidence they look for, and therefore what evidence they find. If historians do not assume that women are part of history, then the historians wont even be looking for evidence of womens role. Does that mean that womens history is biased, because it, too, has assumptions about womens role? And that regular history is, on the other hand, objective? From the perspective of womens history, the answer is no. All historians and all histories are biased. Being conscious of that bias, and working to uncover and acknowledge our biases, is the first step towards more objectivity, even if full objectivity is not possible. Womens history, in questioning whether histories have been complete without paying attention to the women, is also trying to find a truth. Womens history, essentially, values searching for more of the whole truth over maintaining illusions that we already have found it. So, finally, another important assumption of womens history is that its important to do womens history. Retrieving new evidence, examining old evidence from the perspective of the women, looking even for what lack of evidence might speak of in its silence—these are all important ways to fill in the rest of the story.