Welcome to the Woman's History Timeline. Click on a decade above to open a list of key events. Click on a key event to find out more about what happened. Click on LISTEN icons to hear interviews and special archive content about the period.
Victorian Times: for background on women's history during the Victorian era visit BBC Women's History and you can test your knowledge with the women's rights game.
Listen again to the Balloon debate that launched the Woman's Hour Time line and hear why the availability of contraception won the title of most influental event to impact on the lives of women.
Comments: If you have specialist knowledge of one of the events we have chosen, or would like to suggest an addition, please let us know with the form below.
This is a photo of my mum, Brenda at Highgate Farm, near Penrith in Cumberland. She is feeding the hens with my sister, Ester (aged 3 years). I suspect this dress was for the photo, however she did generally wear skirts at that time rather than trousers even when working outside. Brenda trained as a pharmacist in the 1930's and worked in a chemists shop in Newcastle when she was first married. When World War Two broke out, my father, a quaker and conscious objector, decided to leave the family leather making buisness and learn to farm. For me these photos are a reminder of an age less reliant on technology, when people had to work extremely hard and long days but their lives some how seemed to be at a less frantic pace, with fewer social pressures and less emphasis on material possessions. Brenda sadly died last year aged 88, but would be delighted to be in this gallery!
