Blog

Tessa Verney Wheeler
Groundbreaking women in archaeology

Discover the stories of pioneering female archaeologists from across Europe

part of the front cover of a fashion magazine: stylised drawings of sleek women in fashionable thirties outfits
Suits designed by women, for women

Questioning the status quo through fashion

black and white photograph, two women constructing a window frame
Gender gaps & inequality illustrated by GIFs

Animating inequality between men and women in all areas of society

Alice Guy-Blaché portrait picture
Alice Guy-Blaché: cinema pioneer

Film's first female director and the first woman to run her own studio

yellow, orange and white kimono with red and black dots
Kimono: the women’s garment shaping cross-cultural exchange

The social history of the kimono represents a unique cultural exchange between Japan and Europe

black and white photograph, a woman ice skating
Sjoukje Dijkstra: champion figure skater

First Dutch gold medal winner at the Winter Olympic Games

A japanese woodblock print depicting a woman standing in the moonlight in a blue dress with long black hair.
Murasaki Shikibu & The Tale of Genji

Defining author of Japanese literature in the Heian period

a sepia photograph of the interior of the Pantheon in Paris
Simone Veil

Survivor, activist, feminist, politician

Picturing women at work

What visual representations of women working tell us about women’s history

colour illustration, a profile portrait of a woman in orange with a green illustration of women diving into a swimming pool
Fanny Durack: winner of the first women’s Olympic swimming medal

Irish-Australian who set swimming world records

black and white portrait of Angela Davis
Angela Davis: political activist

African-American philosopher and author combatting racism, sexism and homophobia

colour photograph of three long dresses against a black background, one dress is orange, one is silver, one is red
The bias cut and Madeleine Vionnet

Femininity as encounter of technology and sensuality in the 1920s and 1930s

Why the shamrock is a symbol of Ireland

How Saint Patrick explained the holy trinity

six young women lined up at the beginning of a running race
School sports: photographs from the Rathdown School Archive

Archive photographs from a girls school in Dublin

Black and white photo of Frida Kahlo wearing earings, dark hair parted in the middle and tied back.
Frida Kahlo: identity in art

Role model for generations of artists, bisexual women and people with disabilities

Siw Malmkvist, Swedish singer and actress

The first Swede to hit the US charts

Black-and-white photograph. A group of Chinese servants and officials pose in ornate clothing, with the empress Cixi in a wooden carrier in the middle of the frame.
Empress Cixi, the last woman to rule China

In the 19th century, when Queen Victoria was on the throne, another woman was governing a world power on the opposite side of the globe: Empress Dowager Cixi.

The women behind Beauty and the Beast

Meet the authors and illustrators who brought the fairy tale to life

Madame Delait, the bearded lady

Clémentine Delait found fame in the early 1900s

Eartha Kitt: singer, actor and activist

Known for her distinctive singing style and voice, Eartha Kitt was active in social causes in the 1950s and 1960s