Tag Archive: women's history

“She did something useful.” Operation Mincemeat: Reviving forgotten histories

Operation Mincemeat is a multi-award-winning musical that has taken the West End by storm, shedding light on the other roles played, highlighting the true stories of those involved with planning or putting the operation into action during the WWII. In this article, Helena discusses Mincemeat’s significance in rediscovering the history of Hester Leggatt, one of MI5’s secretaries.

AUTHOR: HELENA HUNTER

The Victorian “Poison Panic”: Was Poison Really the Problem?

The Victorian Era was no stranger to poison. Its presence was everywhere, from arsenic in cosmetics, to cyanide in the wallpaper, causing a ‘poison panic’ to emerge in popular media. The panic especially surrounded women across this period, with some put on trial for supposedly poisoning their husbands. This insightful article by Finlay Ratcliffe for the 2024/2025 Women’s History Writing Competition explores the case studies of twenty-two women to highlight whether this public fear stemmed from the threat of the poison itself, or rather the threat of female power.
AUTHOR FINLAY RATCLIFFE

The Response of Feminist Discourse to the Contraceptive Pill, 1960-1980

The pill is often considered to have had a pivotal influence on the lives of women and the expansion of women’s rights, however contemporary feminist literature sought to counter this point of view

AUTHOR: ANNIE FINEGAN