History Extra podcast How women were erased from economic history
Sep 14, 2025
Victoria Bateman, a Fellow at the University of Cambridge and author of "Economica: A Global History of Women, Wealth and Power," discusses the overlooked impact of women on economic history. She unveils how bias has erased women's contributions from narratives of prosperity over 12,000 years. Bateman highlights powerful figures like Ching Shih, the pirate leader, and critiques traditional views that limit women's roles. She warns that ignoring women's economic influence risks repeating historical mistakes, advocating for their recognition in shaping societies.
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Women's Inclusion Drives Prosperity
- Societies prosper when women fully participate in the economy and falter when women are marginalised.
- Adding women into economic narratives fundamentally changes our view of rise and decline.
Perishable Evidence Hid Women's Work
- Archaeology has underestimated women's roles because perishable goods and female hunters leave fewer durable traces.
- Recent DNA and tooth analyses reveal many presumed-male hunters were female, upending old assumptions.
Roman Women Traders And Legal Backlash
- Roman women could own shops, ships and property and played active commercial roles like Julia Felix in Pompeii.
- Augustus' later laws pushed women toward unpaid reproductive labour and weakened Rome's economic foundations.
