Show Notes
Just how should women behave? Throughout History, they have so often been expected to act as genteel ladies and confined to the home - often described as the 'angel in the house'. But far from remaining passive, many used their influence to put themselves at the heart of radical social change. In this episode we hear about the anti slavery campaigners - and Philippa introduces us to the hundreds of women who absolutely, under no circumstances wanted the vote.
Joining Philippa to discuss the push and pull of homely responsibilities throughout history are: Geri Halliwell-Horner former Spice Girl and children’s author and Kate Mosse, best-selling novelist and the founder of the Women In History campaign
Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History is Philippa Gregory's radical retelling of our nation’s story – not of the rise and fall of kings and the occasional queen, but a history of the millions of women missing from the record: wives and workers, viragoes and angels, female husbands, priests and pirates.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Normal Women
What if the so-called "madwoman" wasn’t mad at all? In this special episode of Normal Women, Philippa Gregory is joined by academic and author of Delusions of Gender Cordelia Fine to expose the myths behind the so-called fragile female brain. From hysteria to hormones, we ask: are women really more emotional, or have we just been told that we are for centuries?
The marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert set the template for how we imagine a wedding should be but it wasn’t always about big white frocks. Philippa Gregory explores how married women became the property of their husbands - along with everything they owned and produced. She considers the hidden history of wife sales and female husbands and shines a light on the difficulty women had accessing divorce.
Men have always claimed that there is such a thing as “female nature” and described it with great authority – but throughout history, women have refused to conform to the strict view of what is masculine and feminine - from fierce jousting medieval ladies to 18th Century French aristocrats who seamlessly slip in and out of male and female roles.
Bitten, spat on, denounced - in the 1990s newly-ordained women were met with fury by a vocal minority. But women have always played an important role in the Church, as mystics, the heads of religious houses, saints or simply as normal women seeking salvation.
Throughout history women have faced the threat of sexual violence and, sadly, it's no different today. Philippa explores how rape was viewed as a crime against a man’s property, how courtly love gave way to brutal desire and the difficulties women face in bringing their attackers to justice.