A new campaign is calling for England’s history curriculum to better reflect women’s contributions, after research by the group End Sexism in Schools found that nearly 60% of Key Stage 3 lessons made no mention of women at all.
The group argues that students are being taught a distorted version of the past in which women appear mainly as victims, such as Jack the Ripper’s targets, rather than as leaders or innovators like the Bletchley Park codebreakers or Johanna Ferrour, a central figure in the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt. With Elizabeth I and Mary I the only women named in the national curriculum, and just 6% of the General Certificate of Secondary Education and A-level exam questions focused on women in 2023, campaigners warn that girls are denied relatable role models, boys miss chances to build empathy, and society inherits a misogynistic historical narrative.
The group is now urging the Department for Education and exam boards to amend the curriculum, increase representation, and ensure women’s voices, achievements, and sources are embedded across all eras.
Compiled From: Richard Adams, “School history lessons minimise the role of women, report finds”, The Guardian, Sept. 24, 2025.