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Gender History

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Introduction

Women history and gender history all belong to social history. Women history came first

and it is used to bring the history of women into the limelight. Women’s history began as a result

of feminists who wanted to ensure that women are visible in the society. The initial women

historians were concerned with placing women on the historical records. Previously, women

were suppressed and had no voice. The feminists were concerned hence wanted to provide them

with a voice so that they can be heard in the society. Women’s history wanted to indicate that

women also had their own points of view that must be considered by the society. It sought a

space for a group that had been distorted and underrepresented. The task was not easy. It

involved changing or broadening what had previously been viewed as history to include

visualizations of women. Therefore, women’s history has created a space for women in history

as well as a place that would promote feminist inquiry in the profession of history. Gender

history on the other hand emerged later on as an amplification of the women’s history. Gender

was adopted by feminists in reference to social construction of sexual differences. Before the

adoption of the phrase, there were some historians that had already began using it in addition to

women’s history. Initially gender history did not only focus on women but also men. Masculinity

was viewed as a part of gender history. Both women’s history and gender history are a part of

social history. Women’s history arose out of the feminists need to create a space for women in

social history while gender history is a social construction of sexual differences and also a part of

social history. Therefore, gender history has no conflict with women’s studies, and both have

their place and are still evolving.

Overview of Women’s History and Gender History

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There are a number of people that often consider women’s history and gender history as

synonyms of one another. However, the phrases mean different things although they all have a

base in social history. Gender history was carved out of women’s history. Women’s history is a

work of feminists who were keen on exemplifying the status of women in the society through

changing or broadening the already existing history to help in furthering the identity of women.1

Gender history has been considered as a neutralizer of women’s history. However, the

assumption is incorrect as it instead helps in amplifying it. Women history was mainly reliant on

past achievements of women and the information was collected from oral history sources and

other historical sources.2 The historians that promoted the history of gender wanted to establish

an analytical prominence for a group concept. However, gender need to be considered as a social

construction. The term ‘gender’ is an analytical category just like race and class. It thus implies

that the meanings of gender, class, and race can only be found in history and not any other field.

The feminists invented women’s history with a sole purpose of providing historical

information on women because they felt that women had been disadvantaged in the recordings of

history. However, there are some historians that felt that the historians in that field were stuck in

providing descriptions as opposed to highlighting the differences between men and women. The

historians felt that women’s history was stuck in providing descriptions on women as opposed to

rewriting the master narrative of history. The feminists felt that women’s history had been

relegated to become a byway of social history inquiry. Gender history provided a new approach

that could be used in the process of rewriting history. The feminists wanted something that could

appropriately address the persistent inequalities that existed between men and women.

1
Bornat. J, and Diamond. H, Women’s History and Oral History: developments and debates, Women’s
History Review, 16:1, p. 22.
2
W. J. Scott., Gender and the Politics of History (Chichester:Columbia University Press. 2018), p. 41.
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Gender history is an essential part of social history that is mainly concerned with

examining the inequalities that exist between the females and males. It furthers the field of

women’s history by going beyond description of the history of women to analyzing the language

of gender and analyzing the historical appearance of the perceptions of sex differences. Women

historians during that time felt that existing differences on served to subordinate and constrain

women.3 He differences, however, also provided a primary way that was used in signifying

hierarchical relationships. Therefore, women’s history and gender history fall under social

history but one was focused on creating visibility of women through history while another was

concerned with highlighting the inequalities that existed between males and females in the

society. The two fields are not in conflict with one another. Instead, gender history is used to

amplify the feminist’s actions and the direct intention of the women’s history. The historians in

gender history were keen on expanding the realm of feminist influence.

Gender history is used for the purposes of recognizing women as the historical agents

while refuting a long-held assumption that males are neuter beings hence their masculinity or

sexuality need not to be noticed. Under gender history, there is an assumption that each attribute

of human beings is shaped or influenced by the gender attributes, as well as the existence of

gender binary.4 However, the divisions only exist in human thinking. The concept of masculinity

and femininity are aspects that have been developed by human beings and are found in every

culture. Therefore, gender is a social construction that has basically been developed to help in

signifying relations and creating hierarchical structures.

The Social History of Women and Gender Stories

3
Scott, ‘Gender and the Politics of History’ p. 43.
4
S. O. Rose, What is Gender History (Cambridge: Polity Press. 2010), p. 4.
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The presentation of women in social history began many centuries ago and was most

influenced by the presentation by a French historian, Christine de Pisan, in her book titled The

Book of the City of Ladies. The history of women has also been presented through oral histories

that have been documented. Vibrant history on women and femininity began to occur early and

through into the early twentieth century when most amateur authors embraced the field and

created a rich social history of women.5 Since then, the field of women and gender history has

grown since a lot of professional authors have embraced to produce thousands of social histories.

Early debates on women history often centered on the moral value of women as well as

femininity. The debates developed and by nineteenth century, the rationale for writing about

women revolved around asserting their heroic, secular nature that had a foundation on the

contributions made by females in the public sphere. When the debate on women was revitalized

in the twentieth century, the focus became the assertion of historical value on the active presence

of women.6 The documentation of the history of women grew in the later and early twentieth

century when the enlightenment curiosity when most authors sought to portray the social life of

individuals occurring both in the present and the past. One of the main contributors during that

period included Lydia Maria Child who wrote the book, The History and Condition of Women.

The works were used to capture the important roles that women played in social rituals that

included festivals, charitable societies, guilds, religious observances, and in hospitals among

others.7 The argument given for studying women’s history separately was that it helped in

creating a clear understanding of social fabric in the society.

5
K. M., Brown. "Brave New Worlds: Women's and Gender History." The William and Mary Quarterly 50,
no. 2 (1993), P. 313

6
Brown, ‘Brave New Worlds’ p. 315.
7
Scott, ‘Gender and the Politics of History’ p. 49.
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The nineteenth century resulted in a shift on how women history was expressed. The

historians moved from asserting the moral worth of women to affirming their social and secular

contribution in the society. The historiography of women at that time was fed by various

influences that included burgeoning feminism and reform activism, separate-spheres ideology,

and the utopian social thought. The growth in women history resulted in the strong emergence of

authors that championed for women rights such as Stopford Green.8 The social history of women

was kept alive with the first wave of feminism as well as the attendant movement of women that

occurred in the universities mainly in the United States and the Great Britain.

Numerous groups that were inspired by feminism emerged such as the Men’s and

Women’s Group in London that participated in the production of various studies touched on

women’s work, prostitution, and family customs. Lina Eckenstein published a work titled,

Women Under Monetization and other authors that included Margaret Oliphant and Julia

Cartwright that helped in the indication of cultural and social life among the upper classes.9 The

works depicted women’s social privilege that allowed them to have an influence in the works of

art. Mary Bateson was another author that helped to depict the monastic society women that had

the capacity to exert power that was similar that of men despite the religious denigration of moral

capacity of women.10 Eileen Power vividly captures the economic and social organization of

women in monastic women in her work titled, Medieval Nunneries. The authors helped expand

the works that touched on women and gender history in social history.

The early culture was highly characterized by patriarchy. The roles of men and women

were sharply divided with men taking the main roles while women mainly participated in the
8
P. Burke. New Perspectives on Historical Writing (Oxford: Blackwell Polity Press, 1992), p. 51.
9
H., Leyser. Medieval Women: A Social History of Women in England 450-1500 (London: Weidenfeld &
Nicolson 1995), p. 37.
10
Burke, ‘New Perspectives on Historical Writing’ p. 59.
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subordinate roles. The social structures were organized in a way that favored men. The social

relations between men and women in the early times indicated that men dominated women. Male

patriarchy was evident during the period of industrialization when the emphasis was on men

while women also participated in the provision of labor, despite working in less dominant roles

compared to men.11 Few women were involved in industrial work as most of them worked as

household helpers. The conditions of work for women and men were varied. Women were in less

favorable environment compared to men. Women were subjected to scrutiny, isolation, and

round the clock responsibilities.

Women historians were thus involved in the construction of social history of work to

capture the conditions of work for women as well as to highlight the active role that they played

in industrialization, especially in the textile industry in Europe. The women historians highlights

of women in work brought into the fore the contributions that they made in the industrialization

period. Historians such as Judith Bennett in her book Feminism and History indicated that

gender history provided a way of analyzing gender as opposed to women’s history that mainly

dealt with historical manifestations of patriarchy.12 However, those in support of gender history

argued that gender history was in fact complemented the history of women.

Gender History as an Advancement of Women’s Social History

The introduction of gender history in the early 1990s faced a lot of resistance from

historians because it was viewed as acting in opposition to women’s history.13 Therefore, calls

for practitioner’s to shift from women’s history to gender history faced a lot of resistance.

11
K. Barclay, Love, Intimacy and Power Marriage and Patriarchy in Scotland, 1650-1850 (Manchester:
Manchester University Press. 2011), p. 34.

12
M. J. Bentley. Modern Historiography. (Norfolk: Routledge, 1999), p. 143.
13
Scott, ‘Gender and the Politics of History’ p. 51.
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However, gender history was given meaning by various scholars that included Joan Scott in her

book, “Gender: A Useful Category of Analysis” who summarizes the theory of gender by

observing that it is liming for one to investigate the history of women on its own because they

existed in a relationship with men.14 The relationship between men and women is evident in the

systems of power. Gender is used as an expression of power. However, there were historians that

still felt that gender history was a way of appealing to men by indicating that it was impossible to

discuss the history of women without a reference to men.

However, gender history does not undermine the history of women, but enhances it by

shedding new light on femininity. The emergence of gender history led to the creation of a new

meaning to the term femininity. A new historical dimension was added through the proposal that

masculinity and femininity were linked. A good example is in the works of Catherine Hall and

Leonore Davidoff that explore the British middle class social history through an examination of

mutually constructed roles of women and men in the early nineteenth century period.15 The

authors found out that there was less disparity between masculinity and femininity compared to

the works of the early period authors. Gender history provided insights on the history of the

working women. The history helped in bringing out disparities in women and men in terms of

work.16 For example, women metallurgy workers when examined through the prism of gender

indicate that the factory owners employed both men and women but employed the available

gender stereotypes when assigning responsibilities and wages. Gender history brings out the

differences between men and women in terms of provision of labor.

14
Burke, ‘New Perspectives on Historical Writing’ p. 63.
15
E. Tonkin. Narrating our Past: The Social Construction of Oral History (Northants: Cambridge University
Press 1992), p. 24.
16
P. Thompson, The Voice of the Past (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2008)p. 42.
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Gender history compared to women history has helped in bringing out deeper aspects of

social history that were previously less documented in women’s history. Previous works of

history about women gave shallow accounts of women’s involvement in the provision of labor in

fields that were dominated with men.17 However, the emergence of gender history helped in the

documentation of more details regarding the involvement of women in various roles apart from

those that were basically designated for them. For example, historians such as Heide Wunder and

Christian Vanja highlighted the role of women in fishing industry, spinning, and healthcare

industry.18 Works in gender history also highlighted women ownership of property. The works in

the period of gender history extensively indicate that women controlled property in a stronger

sense compared to early history works. The gender historians helped in complementing women

history and social history by providing a rich portrait of work life. The historical works have led

to an evolution of the study of gender as well as an advancement of social history.

Gender and Sexual Equality

The emergence of gender history has led to a growth in the wave of feminism thus

transforming every facet of human life that includes women, men, and children. The wave of

feminism has led to a growth in feminist movements that have gone beyond religious,

geographical, political, and traditional historical history.19 The strong wave of feminism has led

to a social transformation in the society and has changed how women and men work, worship,

play, dress, and think among others. The gender history works such as No Turning Back: The

History of Feminism and the Future of Women that was written by Estelle Freedman have helped

17
E. Wiesner-Hanks, Merry. “Women, Gender, and Church History.” Church History, vol. 71, no. 3, 2002, p.
607.
18
Brown, ‘Brave New Worlds’ p. 319.
19
L. Wollstadt. “Controlling Women: ‘Reading Gender in the Ballads Scottish Women Sang.’” Western
Folklore, vol. 61, no. 3/4, 2002, p. 298
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in emboldening women to form social movements that have helped to reduce the equality gap

that exists between men and women.20 While the social movements have different goals, they

have helped to improve the position of women in the society by creating an understanding that

gender interacts with other social hierarchies.

The gender and sexual equality movements have helped to demystify the stereotypes

previously believed to be permanent hence cannot be changed. It has helped in creating an

understanding that gender is a social construction as opposed to a personal identity of an

individual. Women had been shaped by the society to live within the already set roles due to

social pressure. The stereotypes became more entrenched into the culture of the society leading

to the stereotypical roles being imposed by women.21 However, gender history created an

awakening that has driven women to adopt roles that were previously only considered as men

roles. Men no longer view women as spectators whose responsibility is to assist men to

accomplish their tasks. The growth in femininity has helped to distort the previous position of

dominance by men. Women begin deconstructing the previous stereotypes about roles that had

been developed right from birth and into adulthood.22 The creations of a position of dominance

for men had become so entrenched that it became a way of life. Even women considered the

dominance impossible to change. The focus of women’s history was thus highlighting of women

success so that they can be brought to light as opposed to challenging the position of dominance

occupied by men. However, the emergence of gender history has helped to transform the belief

with more women taking up increasingly dominant roles in the society.

Conclusion

20
Tonkin, ‘Narrating our Past’ p. 32.
21
Scott, ‘Gender and the Politics of History’ p. 55.
22
Wollstadt. ‘Controlling Women’ p. 304.
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The history of women has developed to be an important part of social history. The

historical movement to create a branch of social history that solely focused on women was aimed

at creating a presence for women. Most women historians wanted to highlight the important roles

played by women in the society. The feminist movement during that time was keen on placing

women on historical records. The creation of women’s history helped in opening a space through

which women could be heard in the society. Gender history emerged later in the twentieth

century to act as an amplification of women’s history. Its emergence was met with a lot of

resistance because it was viewed as a competitor of women history in the sense that it portrayed

that women could not exist without a relationship with men. However, gender history and

women’s history are all part of social history. While women’s history aimed at creating a place

for women in the history records, gender history went further to highlight the gender differences

created by culture that gave men a position of dominance in relation to women. It helped in

opening new debates about the roles of men and women thus opening new spaces for women that

led them to freely own property and be involved in labor provision in areas that were previously

dominated by men.
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Bibliography

Barclay. K., Love, Intimacy and Power Marriage and Patriarchy in Scotland, 1650-1850

(Manchester: Manchester University Press. 2011).

Bentley, M. J., Modern Historiography. (Norfolk: Routledge, 1999), pp.143-144

Bornat. J, and Diamond. H, Women’s History and Oral History: developments and debates,

Women’s History Review, 16:1, 19-39, British Library Oral Histories of Women

https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides/oral-histories-of-womens-history

Brown. K M., "Brave New Worlds: Women's and Gender History." The William and Mary

Quarterly 50, no. 2 (1993): 311-328

Burke, P., New Perspectives on Historical Writing (Oxford: Blackwell Polity Press, 1992),

pp.42-66, 206-232.

Leyser., H., Medieval Women: A Social History of Women in England 450-1500 (London:

Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1995).

Rose. S. O., What is Gender History (Cambridge: Polity Press. 2010).

Scott. W.J., Gender and the Politics of History (Chichester: Columbia University Press. 2018).

Thompson, P., The Voice of the Past (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2008).

Tonkin. E., Narrating our Past: The Social Construction of Oral History (Northants: Cambridge

University Press 1992).

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Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. “Women, Gender, and Church History.” Church History, vol. 71, no.

3, 2002, pp. 600–620.

Wollstadt. L., “Controlling Women: ‘Reading Gender in the Ballads Scottish Women Sang.’”

Western Folklore, vol. 61, no. 3/4, 2002, pp. 295–317