She is remembered as one of history’s greatest femme fatales, a cunning, double-crossing spy who was responsible for the deaths of up to 50,000 men. But was Mata Hari really that deadly, or was she instead just the scapegoat France needed at the time?
Biographies
Femme Fatales – Lucrezia Borgia
Murderous temptress or weak pawn? These are the two enduring images of Lucrezia Borgia, but are either at all true? Evidence suggests not.
Suffrage Around the World: Clara González
During the early 1900s, women all around the world were mobilising to fight for their rights, and it was no different in Latin America. Clara González spent her whole career fighting for women and their rights.
Warriors: Black Agnes Randolph
‘From the record of Scottish heroes, none can presume to erase her.' These were the words used by novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott about Black Agnes Randolph, a Scottish heroine in the fight against the English.
Warriors: Nusaybah bint Ka’ab
The birth of Islam allowed women to have independent identities and for a woman’s successes or failures to rest entirely on her. This is no better demonstrated than in the case of Nusaybah bint Ka’ab, Islam’s first woman warrior.
LGBTQ+ Couples: Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West
"I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia..." The love affair of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West was colourful and lively, and the impact the two women had on each other and their work can scarcely be measured.
LGBTQ+ Couples: Anne Lister and Ann Walker
Gay marriage has only been legal across the UK for just over two years, after legislation took effect in Northern Ireland on 13th January 2020. However, the first lesbian ‘wedding’ actually took place a little short of two centuries before, when Anne Lister and Ann Walker wedded at Holy Trinity Church in York in 1834.
Z is for… Zenobia
Born around 240 AD in Palmyra, Syria, Zenobia would rise to challenge the likes of the Roman Empire and even earn their grudging respect, despite their prejudices against both her race and sex.
Y is for… Yaa Asantewaa
Now an anti-colonial heroine and a role model for women and girls throughout Africa, Yaa Asantewaa was prepared to do whatever it took to protect her land and culture. As Queen Mother, she held a great deal of power in the relatively egalitarian Asante nation—power which she used to incite a war against one of the largest colonial forces in the world. It was not a war Asantewaa would necessarily win in body, but her actions and what they symbolised produced a type of victory out of defeat.
V is for… Velu Nachiyar
India has its fair share of female warriors in its history, but one of the first was a woman named Velu Nachiyar, the first Queen of Sivaganga estate. She was the first queen to take on British colonial powers in India, and she emerged victorious, restoring her kingdom to its former glory.