Economica
A global history of women, wealth and power
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Economica
Narrated by:
Victoria Bateman
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Narrated by:
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Victoria Bateman
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By:
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Victoria Bateman
About this listen
Humanity's journey from poverty to prosperity is filled with men who have become household names. But how many female entrepreneurs, merchants and industrialists can you name?
Economica places women at the centre of the story of economic growth. Starting in the Stone Age and continuing to the present day, it takes the reader through the key economic milestones of the past twelve millennia - from the birth of farming to the advent of computing - all told through the experiences of women as well as men.
Historian Victoria Bateman weaves a thrilling, globe-spanning narrative that proves women weren't 'missing' from economic life, they were merely hidden from view. We discover the female workers who helped to build the Great Pyramid of Giza, and to plumb the city of ancient Rome; the silk weavers who made a vital contribution to the development of the Silk Road and global trade; the women who dominated London's brewing trade during medieval times; and the brave twentieth-century pioneers who fought to make our economies not just richer but fairer.
Economica rewrites our understanding of women's role in the economy, and tells a more accurate economic history of us all.©2025 Victoria Bateman (P)2025 Headline Publishing Group Limited
Critic reviews
The economic history of half of humankind has broken out of its ghetto. The time has come for Victoria Bateman's comprehensive stocktaking-of how women figured in the economy, from the caves to the computers. And the time has come for you to read it. (Professor Deirdre McCloskey)
Who are the wealth-creators? Victoria Bateman shows that the standard image of heroic male entrepreneurs or inventors could not be more misleading; in Economica she tells a gripping tale of all the unsung female industrialists and workers who are missing from conventional economic histories (Professor Dame Diane Coyle)
Victoria Bateman's Economica is a must-read for anyone interested in women's history and economic justice. Bateman powerfully argues that women have always been central to economic life, from 18th-century shoemakers like Ann Askew to pioneers like Priscilla Wakefield, who founded the UK's first bank for women and children. For centuries, laws and social norms have constrained women's economic freedom, not only limiting individual potential but also undermining prosperity for all. Her research reminds us: economies thrive when women have the autonomy to work, earn, and control their wealth (Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire and A World On Fire)
An entertainingly readable, well-evidenced global history that places women at its heart. Taking a grand sweep across the ages, it delivers a powerful message about freedoms and challenges us to shape our planet in the interests of all our citizens (Sara Horrell, Professor of Economic History, London School of Economics)
Taking readers on an enthralling journey from prehistory to the modern world, Victoria Bateman rightly emphasises the importance of women's economic agency in human history. Economica puts women's work back into the story of the global economy. Making the case for women's central importance, readers will be left wondering how economic history could ever be studied without reference to one half of the world's population (Elizabeth Norton, author of Women Who Ruled the World: 5000 Years of Female Monarchy)
This wonderful book is not just a much needed economic history of women but an economic history of everyone - for in Bateman's eyes giving freedom, equality, and dignity to women leads to high productivity and economic growth. The economic success of men is not down solely to their own abilities and efforts but is a joint product of the economic success of their mothers, sisters, and daughters. This thesis is defended with a wide ranging familiarity with world history and an acute analysis of the economic incentives and forces at play. Economica is also a pleasure to read (Professor R.C. Allen, Global Distinguished Professor of Economic History at NYU)
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