In the 1970s the Women’s Liberation Movement campaigned for women’s rights. But as well as being political activists, many second wave feminists were entrepreneurs, who also experimented with business practices. Dr D-M Withers introduces us to the publishers and book workers of second wave feminism in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s to discuss how they navigated masculine systems of finance, and equity in running their businesses.

Dr Amy Edwards

Amy is a senior lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Bristol, where she has worked for the past 10 years. Her research focuses on how ‘ordinary people’ experience large economic changes and how people in the past worked, saved, spent, and invested their money. Her first book, Are We Rich Yet? Told the story of how the worlds of business and finance became part of our day-to-day culture. It looked at things like the business press, financial advice columns, investment based boardgames, and the popularity of the filofax in the 1980s. But more recently she has been carrying out a research project that looks at the lives of self-employed women from the 1950s to the 2000s.

Dr D-M WithersD-M Withers is Lecturer in Publishing at the University of Exeter. Their research focuses on the post-war publishing industries, especially feminist, queer and women-led companies. They have published widely on the history of feminist publishers, Virago Press, including their book, titled Virago Reprints and Modern Classics: the Timely Business of Feminist Publishing which came out in 2021. D-M is also a publisher, and runs Lurid Editions, which publishes queer books from the twentieth century archive. So there is no one better placed to help guide us through the history of women and the publishing industry!

See this and other episodes in the series at https://womensbusiness.club/s/voice

https://www.womeninpublishinghistory.org.uk

Lurid Editions - https://www.lurideditions.com

Link to the Carmen interview with Mavis Nicolson where she talks about not making the bed, and never doing the housework! https://youtu.be/9zflvW_qS6I?si=nsVl3V9d_RwFHMsw

From Side Hustles to Empires - Histories of Women’s Working Lives, featuring a series of conversations between Dr Amy Edwards and a range of expert historians. Speaking about her upcoming book on disability in Britain, Professor Lucy Delap will talk about the barriers to employment that have often faced women with disabilities. In particular we’ll be discussing a number of women who responded to job market discrimination by setting up businesses, working for themselves and becoming entrepreneurs.Dr Amy EdwardsAmy is a senior lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Bristol, where she has worked for the past 10 years. Her research focuses on how ‘ordinary people’ experience large economic changes and how people in the past worked, saved, spent, and invested their money. Her first book, Are We Rich Yet? Told the story of how the worlds of business and finance became part of our day-to-day culture. It looked at things like the business press, financial advice columns, investment based boardgames, and the popularity of the filofax in the 1980s. But more recently she has been carrying out a research project that looks at the lives of self-employed women from the 1950s to the 2000s. Professor Lucy Delap Today we’re joined by Lucy Delap who is a professor at Cambridge University, where she researches the history of feminisms, spanning Britain, the United States and the British empire. In 2020 she published Feminisms: A Global History which expanded her scope even further. She’s been involved in a number of oral history projects too, helping to produce the The Business of Women’s Words collections at the British Library, which is all about the feminist publishing industry. She also has lots of experience in working with policy makers, to help use what we know about the past to help inform practice in the present. Perhaps most relevant for today, however, is Lucy’s current project on the history of employment and labour for disabled people in twentieth century Britain. See this and other episodes in the series at https://womensbusiness.club/s/voice

From Side Hustles to Empires - Histories of Women’s Working Lives, featuring a series of conversations between Dr Amy Edwards and a range of expert historians. This episode, we’ll take a look at the history of women in the world of finance, from stockbrokers to financial advice columnists. Professor James Taylor invites us to discover more about the women who fought for a space on the Stock Exchange floor.

Dr Amy Edwards

Amy is a senior lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Bristol, where she has worked for the past 10 years. Her research focuses on how ‘ordinary people’ experience large economic changes and how people in the past worked, saved, spent, and invested their money. Her first book, Are We Rich Yet? Told the story of how the worlds of business and finance became part of our day-to-day culture. It looked at things like the business press, financial advice columns, investment based boardgames, and the popularity of the filofax in the 1980s. But more recently she has been carrying out a research project that looks at the lives of self-employed women from the 1950s to the 2000s.

Professor James Taylor

James is a Professor in Modern British History at Lancaster University. His work explores business history from social and cultural perspectives. He has written on subjects including the history of company law, white-collar crime, financial advice, popular investment, and advertising. He has authored or co-authored five books. His most recent, Sexism in the City: Women Stockbrokers in Modern Britain, was published in March 2025 by Oxford University Press, and he’ll be telling us more about it in today’s episode.

James Taylor’s book, Sexism in the City: Women Stockbrokers in Modern Britain, was published by Oxford University Press in 2025: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sexism-in-the-city-9780198879817

See this and other episodes in the series at https://womensbusiness.club/s/voice

In this deeply reflective episode of Women's Business Voice, we speak with Eglė Aleknavičiūtė—Wealth, Business & Purpose Strategist—whose journey from a small town in Lithuania to a high-flying finance career in the Netherlands took an unexpected and transformative turn. After years in corporate finance, Eglė realised that something crucial was missing—not just in her career, but in the way many women approach wealth. Her personal evolution through motherhood, subconscious healing, and purpose work led her to redefine success—not as numbers on a spreadsheet, but as self-worth, energy, and alignment. Today, she helps heart-led women across the world break free from limiting beliefs, rewrite their money stories, and build wealth rooted in authenticity and empowerment. Join us for a powerful conversation on feminine wealth, purpose, and the kind of healing that changes everything—not just for one woman, but for generations to come.

See this and other episodes in the series at https://womensbusiness.club/s/voice or connect with Eglė at https://www.egle-aleknaviciute.com

From Side Hustles to Empires - Histories of Women’s Working Lives, featuring a series of conversations between Dr Amy Edwards and a range of expert historians.

This episode will take a closer look at the sex advice industry and Mary Stopes: an Edwardian advice columnist and queen of self-promotion. Dr Sarah Jones will talk us through some of the women who made their careers selling sex tips and toys.

Dr Amy Edwards

Amy is a senior lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Bristol, where she has worked for the past 10 years. Her research focuses on how ‘ordinary people’ experience large economic changes and how people in the past worked, saved, spent, and invested their money. Her first book, Are We Rich Yet? Told the story of how the worlds of business and finance became part of our day-to-day culture. It looked at things like the business press, financial advice columns, investment based boardgames, and the popularity of the filofax in the 1980s. But more recently she has been carrying out a research project that looks at the lives of self-employed women from the 1950s to the 2000s.

Dr Sarah Jones

Sarah Jones works at the University of Bristol, where she researches and teaches histories of gender and sexuality. Her research has covered topics from Victorian 'free love' movements and transatlantic sex radicalism, to the role of science in shaping modern sex advice. She’s working on an upcoming article about sex advice quizzes in women’s magazines, and she also recently contributed to an exhibition on gender, identity and culture at Bristol Museum. When she’s not busy doing all of that, she researches how to make university-level teaching more inclusive, impactful, and engaging. So we’re really pleased to have her with us today to talk about the history of the sex advice industry and some of the women who worked in it.

See this and other episodes in the series at https://womensbusiness.club/s/voice

From Side Hustles to Empires - Histories of Women’s Working Lives, featuring a series of conversations between Dr Amy Edwards and a range of expert historians.

In this episode this we’re going to take a look at the world of science, experiments, and scientific discovery. Although we might not consider scientists traditional entrepreneurs, they have often been lauded by society as innovators, as creators, and as performing a role not dissimilar to entrepreneurs. It’s also one of those worlds that we often associate historically with men. So to help us think about scientific research as work, and to unpick the role of gender in that field, we’re lucky to be joined today by Dr Andrew Flack.

Dr Amy Edwards

Amy is a senior lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Bristol, where she has worked for the past 10 years. Her research focuses on how ‘ordinary people’ experience large economic changes and how people in the past worked, saved, spent, and invested their money. Her first book, Are We Rich Yet? Told the story of how the worlds of business and finance became part of our day-to-day culture. It looked at things like the business press, financial advice columns, investment based boardgames, and the popularity of the filofax in the 1980s. But more recently she has been carrying out a research project that looks at the lives of self-employed women from the 1950s to the 2000s.

Dr Andrew Flack

Andy is an environmental historian who studies the relationship between the human and non human animal world. His current project - and forthcoming book - looks at the ways that naturalists discovered new ways of trying to access and understand dark environments and the animals who inhabited them. Some of this work came from a recent project he ran which used histories of ability, technology, emotions and scientific discovery to help us think about our understandings of disability and ability today. The book is called Dark Natures: Finding Life in the Shadows, and I think it will be out in the coming year or so, and it’s going to be fabulous.

See this and other episodes in the series at https://womensbusiness.club/s/voice

From Side Hustles to Empires - Histories of Women’s Working Lives, featuring a series of conversations between Dr Amy Edwards and a range of expert historians. For many women, working for themselves has been a strategy for making money at times when they had few other options. Dr Aleena Din takes a look at post-war migration, discrimination in the labour market, and the ingenuity and entrepreneurialism of British South Asian women

Amy Edwards

Amy is a senior lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Bristol, where she has worked for the past 10 years. Her research focuses on how ‘ordinary people’ experience large economic changes and how people in the past worked, saved, spent, and invested their money. Her first book, Are We Rich Yet? Told the story of how the worlds of business and finance became part of our day-to-day culture. It looked at things like the business press, financial advice columns, investment based boardgames, and the popularity of the filofax in the 1980s. But more recently she has been carrying out a research project that looks at the lives of self-employed women from the 1950s to the 2000s.

Dr Aleena Din

Dr Aleena Din is a historian who works on the relationship between gender, race, and class in modern Britain. Her PhD focused on the migration, settlement and work experiences of British-Pakistani women who settled in Middlesbrough and Oldham between the 1960s and early 2000s. She has been involved in a number of amazing research projects, including one on the Muslim history of Oxford, and a project that she worked on at the University of Bristol called ‘Remaking Britain: South Asian Connections and Networks, 1830 to the Present’. She is now just about to start a new job at the University of Manchester, which is very exciting. But before she does, she’s kindly agreed to join us today to talk to us about what work looked like for women migrating to Britain in the second half of the twentieth century. Find out more at https://southasianbritain.orgSee this and other episodes in the series at https://womensbusiness.club/s/voice

From Side Hustles to Empires - Histories of Women’s Working Lives, featuring a series of conversations between Dr Amy Edwards and a range of expert historians. This episode takes a closer look at the direct sales industry, from the vantage of the women who helped it boom. From Tupperware to Avon, Dr Amy Edwards will cover what it meant to set up as a doorstop saleswoman in the twentieth century.Amy EdwardsAmy is a senior lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Bristol, where she has worked for the past 10 years. Her research focuses on how ‘ordinary people’ experience large economic changes and how people in the past worked, saved, spent, and invested their money. Her first book, Are We Rich Yet? Told the story of how the worlds of business and finance became part of our day-to-day culture. It looked at things like the business press, financial advice columns, investment based boardgames, and the popularity of the filofax in the 1980s. But more recently she has been carrying out a research project that looks at the lives of self-employed women from the 1950s to the 2000s. Dr Sarah JonesSarah Jones works at the University of Bristol, where she researches and teaches histories of gender and sexuality. Her research has covered topics from Victorian 'free love' movements and transatlantic sex radicalism, to the role of science in shaping modern sex advice. She’s working on an upcoming article about sex advice quizzes in women’s magazines, and she also recently contributed to an exhibition on gender, identity and culture at Bristol Museum. When she’s not busy doing all of that, she researches how to make university-level teaching more inclusive, impactful, and engaging.See this and other episodes in the series at https://womensbusiness.club/s/voice

From Side Hustles to Empires - Histories of Women’s Working Lives, featuring a series of conversations between Dr Amy Edwards and a range of expert historians. The series as a whole will explore the relationship between gender, work, and career in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries, asking what’s new (and what isn’t) about the nature of women’s working lives in Britain? Episodes will focus on different industries – from politics and science, to entertainment, sex advice, sales and beyond – through the lives of some of the women who worked in them. The series will explore not only the success stories of famous entrepreneurs and business leaders, but also ‘hidden’ histories of women who made a living in systems and structures not often designed with them in mind. Amy EdwardsAmy is a senior lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Bristol, where she has worked for the past 10 years. Her research focuses on how ‘ordinary people’ experience large economic changes and how people in the past worked, saved, spent, and invested their money. Her first book, Are We Rich Yet? Told the story of how the worlds of business and finance became part of our day-to-day culture. It looked at things like the business press, financial advice columns, investment based boardgames, and the popularity of the filofax in the 1980s. But more recently she has been carrying out a research project that looks at the lives of self-employed women from the 1950s to the 2000s. Helen McCarthyHelen is a professor at the University of Cambridge, where she teaches on different aspects of modern and contemporary British history. This includes a course on Women, Gender and Paid Work in Britain since the 1950s. In 2014 she published a book called Women of the World which was a pioneering study of women’s role in British diplomacy. And more recently, in 2020, she also published a book called Double Lives: A History of Working Motherhood. So this is all to say that she is a foremost expert when it comes to the relationship between gender and work, and we’re very lucky to have her join us to talk to us on the topic of working motherhood. We’ll also hopefully get to hear about what she is currently working on, which is the history of retirement since 1945: so a fun episode ahead!See this and other episodes in the series at https://womensbusiness.club/s/voice

In this episode of Women's Business Voice, we’re joined by Sabrina Yegela, the founder of Bantu Vegan - a Tanzanian lifestyle brand that celebrates heritage through organic farming, plant-based products, and immersive cultural experiences. Sabrina combines traditional wisdom with modern innovation to create a business that prioritizes sustainability, community collaboration, and holistic living. She’ll share her journey from her roots in Tanzania to her current studies at London Business School and her vision for expanding Bantu Vegan into a model for ethical entrepreneurship and cultural preservation.Find out more about Women's Business Voice and future episodes at https://womensbusiness.club/s/voice and visit Bantu Vegan at https://www.bantuvegan.com