Intelligence Squared

How many female entrepreneurs, merchants and industrialists can you name? We all know the names Rockefeller, Medici and Ford, but what about Priscilla Wakefield, who founded the first bank for women and children? Or the businesswoman Julia Felix, who built a property empire in Ancient Rome? In her new book, Economica: A Global History of Women, Wealth and Power, Dr Victoria Bateman charts the vital contributions made by women to humanity’s path from poverty to prosperity. In this episode, she sat down with historian Caroline Dodds Pennock for a wide-ranging conversation - from the market queens of 18th century West Africa to the everyday working women of the Industrial Revolution, to the women who laid the foundations for the computer industry. She shows that throughout history, civilisations thrive when women are working alongside men, and decline when women are forced away from paid work into the home, and explores the lessons these histories hold for our economic future. Victoria Bateman is a feminist