Women's history

Literary women through the ages: Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf and Charlotte Brontë all enjoyed female friendships which enriched their writing, say Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney. (Getty Images)

From Austen & Brontë to Woolf: literature’s forgotten female friendships

Ruth Ellis and her friend Desmond Cussen, who supplied the gun with which she shot David Blakely. (Photo by Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock Photo)

Ruth Ellis and the hanging that rocked a nation

England Women's World Cup squad, Mexico, 1971

The 1971 Women’s World Cup: game changers?

Wrens worked as code-breakers at Bletchley Park.

Second World War

Female codebreakers: the women of Bletchley Park

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Civilian and service personnel work together at code-breaking. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

The women of Bletchley Park . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of the romantic novelist Jane Austen. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The real reason Jane Austen never married

The Scotland women’s team, featuring international star Rose Reilly (centre, pictured playing in a French league), played their first official international match in 1972. (Photo by Daily Record/Mirropix/Getty Images)

A history of women’s football in Scotland

Lucrezia Borgia with her father Pope Alexander VI

Lucrezia Borgia: is her bad reputation deserved?

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Nancy Astor. (Photo by Getty Images)

Rachel Reeves on women who changed politics . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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1960s model. (Photo by Alamy)

Women in the 1960s . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Gentleman Jack, Suranne Jones as Anne Lister (Photo by BBC/Lookout Point/Jay Brooks)

Gentleman Jack . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Victorian lady washing in the nude

In pictures: erotic postcards of the early 20th century

Members of Preston Ladies' Football Club (formerly Dick, Kerr’s Ladies) pose while carrying out leg exercises during practice, March 1937. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

1921: the year when football banned women

A c1850 bronze statue by Thomas Thornycroft commemorating Boudica and her daughters. (Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Boudica: scourge of the Roman empire

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Cathy Newman speaks to the History Extra podcast about 'Bloody Brilliant Women'. (Photo by Getty Images)

Women who made modern Britain . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.