Hello and Happy Thursday!
So, January is all done. Weâve wintered, right? Hereâs to 2024 (finally!) Thereâs a lot of exciting stuff coming up and I wanted to share it with you. Firstly, thank you for still being here in 2024! I love that for us, honestly.
Deep Work: The 2024 Manifesto
The new year brings opportunities to think about whatâs staying and whatâs going in the sea. Let me reaffirm my commitment to the type of womenâs history I am doing and will continue to do in 2024. More on that in a minute.
One thing I noticed in 2023 was a general increase in womenâs history. This is brilliant, obviously. We need more people in this space, especially in public-facing roles.
But - and Iâm just gonna say it - not all of it is my kind of womenâs history. If Iâm being really honest, what Iâm noticing is a lot of the same stuff on repeat. You know what Iâm talking about. Itâs the same stories told on repeat, typically lacking any context. The real issue, IMO, is that a lot of this spin on womenâs history is driven by the desire for role models and better representation thatâs rooted in modern concerns. Now, thereâs nothing wrong with that. I think itâs natural for people to seek that out, especially when looking back.
But what does this achieve for womenâs history?
Honestly, not a lot.
If you really want to boost the status of womenâs history, if you really to safeguard its future and want to integrate women into the stories we tell about the past, then you need to do the deep work. Just looking for role models is not deep work.
Deep work looks like:
Questioning why women are absent from a particular time, place or event
Problem-solving the scarcity of sources
Embedding womenâs experiences into existing narratives
Looking at âwomenâ holistically. We have to be honest and curious about how different identities and experiences. One womanâs heroine is another womanâs oppressor. You can slice it however you like, but womenâs history that ignores power relations is bad history. We donât do that here.
So, letâs make sure that womenâs history stays strong in 2024 by doing the deep work. Anything else is just style and no substance.
Getting Ready for Womenâs History Month: March 2024
Itâs less than a month until we celebrate Womenâs History Month. The theme this year is âwomen who advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion.â Absolutely, yes, letâs use this to celebrate women and to highlight role models, but letâs not slide on the deep work.
Your social feeds are about to see an increase in âinspirational women from historyâ etc etc, but donât get distracted, dear reader. Remember: itâs about deep work. Ask yourself this: are these posts giving me the full picture? What work is being done here, if any, to integrate this story into the male-centred past? We can celebrate but always stay critical.
Letâs Work Together
I have some spaces in March to talk womenâs history, so if you want to book me to do some deep work or have a collaboration idea, reply to this email. Iâd love to hear about your plans.
Announcing the New Series: Womenâs History by the Numbers
As part of my commitment to the deep work, Iâm launching a new series in March called Womenâs History by the Numbers. Every two weeks, Iâll be deep-diving into a statistic or a date and critically evaluating its significance for women - past and present.
On Thursday 7th March, Iâll be kicking off with the most important stat of all - that women only account for 0.5% of recorded history. Iâm really looking forward to this because Iâm gonna show you why this stat is potentially problematic because it reflects some pretty wild (Western) ideas about superiority.
Then, on Thursday 21st March, itâs a deep dive into the year 1926. Iâm about to reframe this year and its significance for you entirely. Itâs gonna be a juicy one.
Iâll be turning on paid posts for this new series as I commit myself (even more) to womenâs history. I hope that youâll support me in this new endeavour and that, together, we can really push into new ground. SO EXCITING! But, fear not, there will still be a free post emailed to you every two weeks. The archive will also remain free for you to peruse.
And if all that wasnât enough, there is a book coming out this year AND I have written a course AND a 30-day challenge. Iâm still fathoming the tech side of things, but Iâll get there eventually đ
Hereâs to the best year yet,
Kaye x