‘For most of history, Anonymous was a woman’

‘For most of history, Anonymous was a woman’

Virginia Woolf

Prof. J. Devika’s talk titled ‘On Doing Gender History’ was (indeed) an enlightening one. Devika has contributed immensely to the discipline of  modern history of Kerala especially to the history of gender and politics in the region. Her interventions in contemporary social analysis is multi-dimensional and internationally acclaimed. J. Devika talked enthusiastically on the Gender history as ‘the excitement of her youth.’ The rise in feminist discourses in the sixties and seventies began to look at women as a distinct social group with distinct social issues. It is from this that, women’s history began to evolve.

What is Women’s history? The mainstream liberal history as well as the kind of historiography, critical of the liberal history have failed to bring forth the contributions of women. Therefore, women’s history was first and foremost, a retrieval project. Where are the women? What were their roles in French revolution, Black Death, Renaissance , Mongolian invasion and so on?

Women’s history is an effort to make women visible in History. Women’s history involves the creation of an archive for women recognizing their diversity and intersectionality. It acts as a lens wide enough to capture all women. All women’s history need not be feminist history. True to its intentions, such endeavours throw light on the shadowed lives of women.