Missing Women from History

It all began with this...

I read a rather amazing book from a much loved author in the spring of 2023. The book was Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World by Kate Mosse, you can buy a copy here. Having already been questioning how women have been treated throughout history, this book, and the one-woman show Kate did alongside it, lit a fire underneath me.

Kate’s book is a truly astonishing list of women who did something notable which changed the world around them, she has not shied away from some of the more problematic parts of this. Acknowledging throughout that not everything done by women has moved things forward, and that it is possible to be both revolutionary and also difficult!

As I read the chapter about the suffragette movement, I came across one name in particular that stood out to me: Helen Crawfurd. A Scottish woman, born about one hundred years before me in the same city I was born in: Glasgow. Helen caught my attention and the more I have learned about her the more I’ve been captivated by her story.

Most of what I knew about the suffragettes is London/England-centric despite the many other women from countries around the world who were involved. I would have been able to give you the names Pankhurst and Wilding-Dickenson but not much more than that. In order to learn more about this woman with whom I share a birth-city, I have broadened this knowledge base through the wonders of the internet and the amazing work being done by Protests and Suffragettes and the Glasgow Women’s Library.

I’ve got a lot more to do but I’m utterly captivated by this story of women who changed the world, and Helen’s story in particular.

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