Really, what was I thinking?

Books have been my closest companion since I was a toddler, even before I could read all that well. They were my escape from a world that seemed too mundane for a child fueled by boundless imagination. My earliest ventures into that world were through the writings of a person who went by the name of Enid Blyton. I would lose myself in the stories of adventure and mystery, and very often imagine myself as a participant along with the characters of these stories.

Now, English was not my native tongue and I was not aware of how English names work, so for the longest time, I made the mistake of believing that I had been reading the work of a male author. I do not recall when or how this notion was broken, but I remember repeating this mistake as an eight-year-old, while reading the writings of another author, about an orphaned boy wizard who has to save the world from evil.

I was too young to realize why I was making those mistakes. Initially, it seemed to be a lack of knowledge on my part, and since we did not have access to high-speed (or any kind of) internet at the time, I chose to forgive myself for these mistakes. It took me a while to understand why, when I realized the majority of names I heard daily in school, were men. I would hear the names of Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, Shelley, but I never heard of Anna Barbauld and Charlotte Smith mentioned in the same breath. Charles Babbage is the “father of computers” but the “mother of computers” is usually mentioned as a footnote. We read about Watson and Crick’s discovery of the DNA, but we never hear about Rosalind Franklin, unless someone is curious enough to research the background of this discovery. I began to recognize the gender disparities in the historical narrative, where men's names dominated while women's accomplishments were relegated to obscurity.

I am starting this blog in an attempt to research how many women and their contributions have been hidden away from the world, and maybe shine a light on their contributions, with a target of adding two new names to the blog every week. The name of this blog came while I was discussing this unfortunate fact with a friend, who made this incredibly appropriate suggestion to highlight the contributions of women who took a backseat in history due to societal bias against them. Through research and reflection, I will share insights and anecdotes about these remarkable women, inviting readers to join me in expanding our collective understanding of history. While many people might be aware of some, or perhaps even all of these women, I want to get their accomplishments and perhaps some interesting anecdotes about them, together in one place.

Hopefully, my readers will be interested in what I have to say, and maybe even help me add names to the list I am making. I would greatly appreciate comments and suggestions on what you might like to read, and even who you want me to write about.

-Shayantani Mukherjee