Women Explorers: Hidden in History
Women Explorers: Hidden in History
Exploring Without Respect
The history of all exploration is filled with prejudice about race, culture, and gender. Although they were groundbreakers, some women explorers also held the same views about race and culture as the men that wrote history. These views considered the white European culture to be better than Asian, African, or Indigenous North American cultures. The adventurers who held these beliefs did not respect the people who lived in the areas they explored – even though they needed the support and guidance of these people in order to survive their journeys. (p. 7)
Women Explorers: Hidden in History is part of the new Crabtree series “Hidden History”. The six books in the series are written by four different writers but have a consistent format and presentation. They are organized into chapters by geographic locations – Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Africa. Only one of the books in the series, (Women Scientists), specifically includes Australia.
Each book begins with a chapter titled “History’s Hidden Heroines” that gives context to a particular field of endeavor featured in the book and explains why we don’t know more about women’s achievements in that field.
So, Why Is Women’s History Hidden?
Women’s history is not as straightforward as men’s history. The stories of women’s lives and achievements have had to be pieced together from information hidden in forgotten ancient books or overlooked records and letters.
Women’s roles, from ancient times until recent times, were very controlled. Women were supposed to be wives and mothers, and few had other options. For so long, women were not allowed a good education. Most ordinary women could not read or write. When you cannot write your own stories, your history is then told by others. Because men wrote much of history, the achievements of women were often ignored or removed. (p. 6)
In addition to highlighting the contributions of women from a wide variety of geographic locations, Women Explorers also includes women from a broad range of time periods, from Queen Dido, founder of the ancient city of Carthage, to a modern-day space explorer, Valentian Tereshkova.
The information in Women Explorers is presented in bite-size chunks, easily read by students. The simple graphic illustrations are likely to remind students of graphic novels. The text is also supported by numerous black and white and coloured reproductions of art and historic and current photos.
There is a short glossary, an index, and a list of additional resources “about women who broke the rules and changed the world”. Women Explorers provides a rich wealth of information that is unlikely to duplicate anything you already have on your library shelves.
Dr. Suzanne Pierson has recently retired and is enjoying reading and staying at home in Prince Edward County, Ontario.