Daily: “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it” – Fixing history’s woman problem

After decades of feminist thought, why is history still a parade of men and the things they’ve done? The writers, poets and teachers behind the Twitter initiative @OnThisDayShe are putting women back into history, one day at a time – and they’re not leaving out the serial killers. Jo Bell, Tania Hershman and Ailsa Holland of @OnThisDayShe talk to Jude Rogers about why history leaves women out, their new book, why women don’t have to be heroes… and how your best ideas can come on a day out at the local treacle market. 

“If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” – Tania Hershman 

“The way we talk about history is revealing. A man is said to have done something. A women is always ‘reputed’ to have done something.” – Jo Bell

“Even if women are recognised in their own time, they’ll often be forgotten by history afterwards.” – Ailsa Holland

“Women’s history is always expected to be somehow uplifting. But it’s not history’s job to be inspiring.” – Jo Bell

“If I’d know at school about some of the women we’ve featured it would have changed my whole outlook on life.” – Tania Hershman

“This isn’t women’s history. It’s everyone’s history, with women put back in.” – Jo Bell

Presented by Jude Rogers. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic  and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production

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