Sexism and History

Tansy Rayner Roberts has a thoughtful post on how women have mostly been rendered invisible in history (because history is usually written by men) and how this has impacted on fantasy writing. This is fascinating stuff and anyone who looks at history sensibly must notice the gaps. For instance who was running the estates while the Crusading knights were wreaking havoc in the Holy Land? Did everything just stop while they were away for years or did the wives and mothers left behind run the family business - the one that funded those warriors? While you're there you might like to have a look at this post as well.