HISTORICAL
WOMEN
PROJECT
ABOUT
HISTORY is full of amazing stories. They're about warriors on the battlefield, explorers widening the horizons of people, and pioneers in the fields of science, literature and art. It's about kings and presidents, politicians and clerics, artists and scientists. There's laughter, drama, fun, and intrigue. In short, history is a lot of fun.
When you're a man. Not so much when you're a woman
WOMEN are hardly present in Dutch history books, history magazines, exhibitions, or in the historical tales we tell each other. Throughout history, women have had limited opportunities in life compared to men, with many areas being closed off to them - think of politics, science and literature. Nevertheless, countless women overcame the hurdles that were laid out before them. Only for them and their achievements to be overlooked by posterity and deemed unworthy to be remembered, simply because they were women.
THE WORLD'S FIRST WOMEN'S HISTORIAN, Gerda Lerner (1920-2013), already stated in the 1960s, that the uneven representation of men and women in our history, has farfetched effects on our society. Boys who leave high school, have seen themselves being overrepresented in their history classes, thereby feeling that they are more important than they really are. Girls on the other hand, have had no representation at all. They are more likely to deem themselves of less importance and to develop Imposter Syndrome when they enter the job market. For that very reason, Lerner righfully stated that "women's history is the primary tool for women's emancipation."
THE HISTORICAL WOMEN PROJECT aims to increase the visibility of international women from the past and give women's history the attention it deserves. Together with our guest writers, we publish weekly biographies on historical women we think everyone should know about. We write articles on gender history topics and we discuss new and older releases on historical women, feminism and gender studies in our reviews and shorts. And for those interested in learning the basics about all things gender history, we have compiled a list of multimedia to get you started.
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Would like to contribute to the Historical Women Project? We are always looking for great ideas, guest writers and collaborations!
You can contact us here.
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"with such a sexist in power,
we felt like we had an important job to do!"
"this historian puts forgotten women from history back into the spotlight"
JASMIJN GROOT
FOUNDER
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Jasmijn is a gender historian and founder of the Historical Women Project. She publishes articles and lends her expertise on gender and women's history to various kinds of media. Jasmijn studied History and Ancient Studies at the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit.
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ROSA DEN OUDSTEN
WRITER
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Rosa is an amateur historian with a preference for women’s history of any given time period. She devours books and podcasts about women’s history and loves to share her knowledge with the world. She’s also very good in telling stories and that is precisely what history is about: telling the stories off people who are not around anymore. Rosa teaches social studies and religious worldviews and tries to raise 2 children.
MAARTJE KRAMER
WRITER
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Maartje is a passionate archivist and heritage professional with a passion for teasing out history. She has a background in Cultural Heritage, studied at the Reinwardt Academy. Maartje enjoys sharing her knowledge, preferably with an insert on historical clothing and recipes. Besides her work, she is an enthusiastic kitchen princess, (rooftop) vegetable gardener and witch.
JULIËTTE RONTELTAP
WRITER
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Juliëtte is an ancient historian - specialising in religion & culture - and a close friend of Jasmijn's. They met during their masters at the University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit. Juliëtte's historical interest started with ancient Egypt, but is certainly not limited to that. She is also active in politics and in her free time enjoys working on art.
SEBASTIAAN COOPS
WRITER
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Sebastiaan is a historian specialised in colonial and world history. While studying history and Asia studies at Leiden University, he focused on Dutch colonial history, with a particular interest in material history. You can therefore call him a real collector, which can be seen at his home, where he has a large collection of old prints on historical subjects.
