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To celebrate Women’s History Month we are sharing with you some articles and eBook chapters from across our collections on the lives of five different women from across history and around the world, all free to read until the end of March 2026.
If you are looking for more on the changing roles of women, browse the content you have by topics such as Women’s History.
Wu Zetian was the only empress of China, ruling from 690 to 705, an incredible feat in a structure set to restrict women from direct participation in the leadership of the empire.
Read When the Emperor is a Woman: The Case of Wu Zetian 武則天 (624–705), the “Emulator of Heaven”, from the Bloomsbury Medieval Studies Core Collection.
Hildegard of Bingen (1099–1178), also known as “Sybil of the Rhine”, is one of the most famous of medieval women, having been a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, and visionary.
Read more about her in Dressing Up the Nuns: The Lingua Ignota and Hildegard of Bingen’s Clothing, from Medieval Clothing & Textiles.
Daca was a powerful ruler in the Lwo area of the East African interlacustrine region in the 16th Century, remembered for centuries after her death due to her role in solidifying Lwo power.
Read the entry on her from the Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa 2nd Edition, from African History Reference Library.
Recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America, Madam C. J. Walker was an entrepreneur, and political and social activist.
Read this chapter on her as a businesswoman from the African American History collection.
Arlette Farge has devoted her life as a researcher to bringing light to eighteenth-century Paris as seen by its people and has become a bastion of contemporary French historiography.
Read this article on her from Bloomsbury History: Theory & Method.
All collections are available via subscription or perpetual access, find out more.
Image credits
Portrait of empress Wu, 18th century. Image taken from An 18th century album of portraits of 86 emperors of China, with Chinese historical notes. (British Library, Shelfmark Or. 2231), Wikimedia
Hildegard of Bingen and her nuns, Unknown, Wikimedia
Coat of arms of Bunyoro-Kitara by Wissenschaftler-Uni - Own work, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia
Madam C. J. Walker by Addison N. Scurlock, Wikimedia
Arlette Farge by REMOLOC - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia
