History and Culture

Introduction

Military history has been dominated by ‘big books written by blokes about bloody battles’ and the marginalisation of women’s voices makes it an incomplete story. There’s a popular understanding that women’s military history is a linear story, one of increasing proximity to the front line over time, but, women were, in fact, there all along, in different guises. But the ideal of the male warrior is so dominant that it overshadows military women and is perpetuated by society – you only have to think of childhood toys to see this. And it endures in society as we grow up, whether in popular culture, on the sports pitch or in the political arena. Changing military culture and quashing the violent behaviours perpetrated against servicewomen can’t happen if we don’t reframe its relationship with history.

Under this theme, we have established a symposium on the History of Women in the Uniformed Public Services meeting twice yearly to bring together historians working on women’s history in the military, police, prison, fire and ambulance service. We are seeking to better represent women by which we mean comparatively, accurately and visibly; with greater diversity; across the sectors, services and time periods; and accounting for intersectionality including class and race. You can read more about the inaugural face-to-face symposium in our blogpost: The History of Women in the Uniformed Public Services – CEEUPS – ARU as well as a related post that emerged from this symposium: Flora Sandes: The queer and complicated legacy of a First World War combatant – CEEUPS – ARU.