Campaigners say key stage 3 curriculum plays to misogny and teaches a ‘false version of the past’
The role of women in history goes far beyond Elizabeth I or Anne Boleyn, according to a campaign that seeks to add more female lives and achievements to the curriculum taught in England’s schools.
Research by the group End Sexism in Schools found that women were largely absent from history taught in key stage 3, the first three years of secondary education in England. Monarchs were among only a handful of women mentioned by name alongside the suffragettes Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davison.
Freedom of information requests on lesson content sent to secondary schools found that 59% of history lessons at key stage 3 did not mention women at all, while only 12% focused on women and 29% mentioned women within other topics.
Even when women were mentioned, the report found they were more often victims than protagonists, with the women murdered by Jack the Ripper more likely to be taught in lessons than the female code breakers at Bletchley Park during the second world war.
