Birmingham Women: Past & Present Revisited by Women’s History Birmingham

Birmingham munitions workers, WW1

We're excited to announce a project by a new group that involves members of the PHC, ‘Birmingham Women: Past & Present Revisited’ by Women's History Birmingham. The project has been supported by an Our Heritage grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and will focus on a sponsored walk produced by the editors of the Feminist Review journal in the 1980s called Birmingham Women: Past & Present.

The project will revisit and update the walk for the 21st century and will, as the original walk did, focus on the untold and unknown stories of women’s involvement in a number of areas in city life: political activism, civic life, education, health and welfare, the arts, and science, identifying new information about women, events and locations and raising awareness of the contribution of women towards Birmingham’s history, from the 18th century to the present day.

Pupils from Waverley School, part of Fight for the Right project

By involving local schools, volunteers, and community partners the project aims to encourage inter-generational discussions based around women’s histories and plans to explore the extent to which women’s activism of the past has been an enabling factor in women’s opportunities today. It will also provide opportunities for those involved to learn interviewing and research skills, thereby encouraging women to feel confident in interpreting the past and to potentially start their own projects. The project will start in July and the first event will involve walking the original trail.

Catherine Osler, leader of BWSS

Women’s History Birmingham (WHB) was set up in October 2015. The purpose and aims of the organisation are: to promote and raise awareness of West Midlands women’s history; to contribute to an increased understanding of our diverse heritage with a particular focus on that of women; to develop and maintain projects that map West Midlands women’s histories; to develop an archive of women’s histories; to provide learning resources to engage young people with women’s histories.

If you would like to find out more and join us on the walk or become more involved in the project please contact us on womenshistorybrum@gmail.com