Gender in History

The small group size of the tutorial format allowed for a really nuanced approach to the issue of gender in history. The aim of the tutorial in particular was to try and equip students with some theoretical knowledge concerning the difference between sex and gender; the idea of the patriarchy and methods to analyse differences in gender between class and other social groups in the morning. Students were shocked by the attitudes of Augustine, Aquinas and Anselm; building a partial picture of some attitudes towards gender differences in the early medieval period. Whilst initially critical of Christine de Pizan’s response to these ideas in the late medieval period eventually students admitted that given the context her critique of these attitudes and in particular her explanation for their rise was incredibly sophisticated and pointed. From here we discussed the article the students had read; I was very impressed by the depth of understanding they gained from a detailed and at times complex argument. Students were able to interrogate the methodological underpinnings of the article, challenging whilst still appreciating the value of personal accounts.

The afternoon was spent attempting to examine the phenomenon of witchcraft persecution and the role of gender in political theory; with an aim to demonstrate that gender analysis in history was at its strongest when integrated as part of wider historical scholarship. The students became immersed in some intense and at some points unsettling personal accounts of witchcraft trials from the seventeenth century and later dealt well with Machiavelli and Locke and the role that women played in the exposition of arguments concerning fortune and patriarchical rule. Overall the day was a great success!

Find out more about our History Masterclass and History Summer School.

Ben Jasper, History Tutor