The article by Rebecca Smith (Here’s what’s missing from the history of rural Britain: the hidden stories of women who shaped it, 30 August) rightly points to the vital contribution that women have made to rural society.
But while I agree that female stories have been marginalised historically, it is also the case that the history of women and gender is an important and vibrant part of rural and agricultural history. Many of us have for years now been researching and writing about women who worked the land, who owned and managed land, who farmed the land, who cleaned the grand and not-so-grand country houses, and who joined in the fight for votes, better wages and better housing.
An easy way into this research would be to visit the pages of the British Agricultural History Society at bahs.org.uk, where publications such as Agricultural History Review and Rural History Today include many stories of rural women over the centuries.
Prof Nicola Verdon
President, British Agricultural History Society; professor of modern British history, Sheffield Hallam University
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