Colonial Histories, Reflection and Editorial

Ju-jitsu became a weapon in the struggle for women’s empowerment, spreading ‘like wildfire’ across the British Empire to Australia’s suffragette campaign.

For Queensland’s Aboriginal women, an exemption certificate could be a ticket to freedom, but there was also a cost—they could no longer have contact with family or community members that were not exempt.

The 1967 Referendum was a watershed moment in the history of race relations in Australia, but what is often overlooked is how instrumental women were in the development and success of the campaign.

The involvement of women in the armed services and in wartime industries changed perceptions of women’s work in ways that helped set Australia on a course towards a more equal society in the late twentieth century.

A sense of gross injustice, a conviction that something needed to be done and a realisation that something could be done by people like them are some of the motivations common to the women who were involved in Australia’s anti-Vietnam War and anti-conscription movements in the 1960s and 1970s.

The ornate burials of two women within the Oseberg ship reveals the prominent status that women could achieve in the Viking Age.

Anne-Josèphe Théroigne was a passionate campaigner for women’s rights during the French Revolution whose tragic death in an asylum was later dismissed as the consequence of revolutionary ‘excess’.

Lydia Chukovskaya’s account of her friendship with Anna Akhmatova not only documents the important underground role played by literature in Russia during the Terror and Cold War, but also underlines the historical importance of personal records.

One of the most powerful positions in the ancient world was open exclusively to women—the priestess Pythia at the Delphic Oracle.

Transcripts from an arbitration hearing reveal the stories of rural women fighting for equal pay just a few years after the Harvester Judgement.

Agora interviews Clare Wright about her inspirations in women’s history, the research gaps that remain and her favourite things to read, listen to and watch.

Wikipedia is often the first source of information that teachers and students use, but some class exercises can reveal the gender bias stifling the voices of women in history.

Her Place Museum’s exhibitions and education resources are focused on the achievements of women, and includes structured lessons plans aligned to the History curriculum.

Two new documentaries, Brazen Hussies and Women of Steel, provide vivid accounts of the fight for women’s equality and liberation in Australia.

The National Museum of Australia’s Defining Moments Digital Classroom interactive resources enable both primary and secondary learners to facilitate their own historical inquiry about Australia’s feminist history.

Chinese Communist Party policies to transform social and family structures gave women greater work opportunities but did not relieve them of their duties at home.

On the west coast of Sumatra, girls and women fostered communities of writers and advocated for female education in Malay newspapers at a time when the rights and status of women were being stripped from their matrilineal society.

Book reviews.