How women were erased from economic history

History Extra podcast

Immediate Media

History

4.3 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 14 September 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Across 12,000 years of history, prosperity has flourished in societies where women could fully participate – and faltered when they were pushed to the margins. That's what Dr Victoria Bateman argues in her new book Economica. From Stone Age big-game hunters to Roman traders, Renaissance brewers and pirate queens, she explores how women’s economic power has shaped civilisations, but also how bias, law and culture have erased these contributions. Speaking to Danny Bird, Victoria challenges myths about the rise of capitalism – and warns that ignoring women’s crucial role in humanity's prosperity risks repeating one of history’s most common mistakes. (Ad) Victoria Bateman is the author of Economica: A Global History of Women, Wealth and Power (Headline Press, 2025). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ECONOMICA-global-history-women-wealth/dp/1035415771/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:33.8	Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History magazine.
0:43.3	Across some 12,000 years of history, prosperity has flourished in societies where women could fully participate and faltered when they were pushed to the margins. That's what Dr.
0:55.9	Victoria Bateman argues in her new book, Economica. From Stone Age Big Game Hunters to Roman
1:02.6	traders, Renaissance brewers and pirate queens, she explores how women's economic power has shaped
1:09.1	civilizations, but also how biased law and culture have erased these contributions.
1:16.9	Speaking to Danny Bird,
1:18.6	Victoria challenges myths about the rise of capitalism
1:21.2	and warns that ignoring women's crucial role in humanity's prosperity
1:26.2	risks repeating one of history's most common
1:29.6	mistakes.
1:31.6	Victoria, welcome to the History Action podcast, and we're here today to discuss your new book,
1:35.5	Economica, which is a broad sweep of over 12,000 years of history, right around the world,
1:41.7	focusing on the significant contribution made by women and their frequent
1:46.7	erasure from the story of humanity's economic development. Firstly, how did the idea for this
1:52.4	book come to you and how did you go about researching such an ambitious project? Well, thank you so
1:57.9	much for inviting me to begin with. It's a real pleasure to be talking to you today.
	...

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