--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Like their personal lives, women's…" description: "\"Like their personal lives, women's history is fragmented, interrupted; a shadow history of human beings whose existence has been shaped by the efforts ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/912/elizabeth-janeway-12505_been_like-their-personal-lives-women-s-histor_100195.jpg" --- # Like their personal lives, women's history is fragmented… ![“Like their personal lives, women's history is fragmented, interrupted; a shadow history of human beings whose existence has been shaped by the efforts and the demands of others.” quote by Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/912/elizabeth-janeway-12505_been_like-their-personal-lives-women-s-histor_100195.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/912/elizabeth-janeway-12505_been_like-their-personal-lives-women-s-histor_100195.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/912/elizabeth-janeway-12505_been_like-their-personal-lives-women-s-histor_100195.jpg) > “Like their personal lives, women's history is fragmented, interrupted; a shadow history of human beings whose existence has been shaped by the efforts and the demands of others.” [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Notes that women's history is often omitted or broken, reflecting a broader pattern of marginalizing certain groups in historical narratives. **In simple terms:** Women's history is fragmented and overlooked. Key Takeaway Historical narratives are selective. Themes gender history representation marginalization Mood reflective somber Type observational critical When to use this quote - teaching inclusive curricula - curating museum exhibits - researching under‑documented communities Key Concepts archival bias social memory Practical Applications - integrate diverse sources - promote oral histories Questions to Reflect On - Whose stories remain untold? - How does this fragmentation affect present identity? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Efforts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/efforts/) [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Feminism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feminism/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Human](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human/) [Human beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-beings/) [Personal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/personal/) [Personal lives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/personal-lives/) [Shadow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shadow/) [Women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/women/) [Women History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/women-history/) [Women'S History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/women-s-history/) ## Related quotes > [Women's history is women's right-an essential, indispensable heritage from which we can draw pride, comfort, courage, and long range vision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerda-lerner/women-s-history-is-women-s-right-an-essential-indispensable-heritage/) [Gerda Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerda-lerner/) > [The most common characteristic of women's history is to be lost and discovered, lost again and rediscovered, lost once more and re-rediscovered - a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-steinem/the-most-common-characteristic-of-women-s-history-is-to-be-lost-and/) [Gloria Steinem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-steinem/) > [When I started giving talks about women's history, one of the things that bothered me was the tendency to say, 'Well, everybody was totally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-collins/when-i-started-giving-talks-about-women-s-history-one-of-the-things/) [Gail Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-collins/) > [During Women's History Month, we celebrate milestones in gender equality, and we uplift the stories of women who have impacted our world with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-northam/during-women-s-history-month-we-celebrate-milestones-in-gender/) [Ralph Northam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-northam/) > [British women's history was never confined to the British mainland; and contesting the narrative around enfranchisement shows us that rights were not bestowed by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ash-sarkar/british-women-s-history-was-never-confined-to-the-british-mainland/) [Ash Sarkar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ash-sarkar/) > [“Because I write women’s history I rarely have the luxury of a full and fair biography to study. Until about 1960 there were very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philippa-gregory/because-i-write-women-s-history-i-rarely-have-the-luxury-of-a-full/) [Philippa Gregory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philippa-gregory/) > [I'm slightly obsessed with women's history, so I'd love to talk to Emily Dickinson or Louisa May Alcott.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandi-toksvig/i-m-slightly-obsessed-with-women-s-history-so-i-d-love-to-talk-to/) [Sandi Toksvig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandi-toksvig/) > [History is no longer just a chronicle of kings and statesmen, of people who wielded power, but of ordinary women and men engaged in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toshiko-kishida/history-is-no-longer-just-a-chronicle-of-kings-and-statesmen-of/) Toshiko Kishida > [In 1975, which was the height of the women's movement, I thought I'd write a book on women's history. But in searching for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-coontz/in-1975-which-was-the-height-of-the-women-s-movement-i-thought-i-d/) [Stephanie Coontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-coontz/) > [I think there has been a great deal of valuable revisionism in women's history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonia-fraser/i-think-there-has-been-a-great-deal-of-valuable-revisionism-in-women/) [Antonia Fraser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonia-fraser/) > [“Yet some would say, why women's history at all? Surely men and women have always shared a world, and suffered together all its rights…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosalind-miles/yet-some-would-say-why-women-s-history-at-all-surely-men-and-women/) [Rosalind Miles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosalind-miles/) > [The effect on men has been very bad, too, of the omission of women's history, because men have been given the impression that they're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerda-lerner/the-effect-on-men-has-been-very-bad-too-of-the-omission-of-women-s/) [Gerda Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerda-lerner/) > [When I started working on women's history about thirty years ago, the field did not exist. People didn't think that women had a history…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerda-lerner/when-i-started-working-on-women-s-history-about-thirty-years-ago-the/) [Gerda Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerda-lerner/) > [It's a shame for women's history to be all about men--first boys, then other boys, then men men men. It reminds me of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kostova/it-s-a-shame-for-women-s-history-to-be-all-about-men-first-boys-then/) [Elizabeth Kostova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kostova/) > [Women's history is the primary tool for women's emancipation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerda-lerner/women-s-history-is-the-primary-tool-for-women-s-emancipation/) [Gerda Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerda-lerner/) ## More by Elizabeth Janeway > [If every nation gets the government it deserves, every generation writes the history which corresponds with its view of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/if-every-nation-gets-the-government-it-deserves-every-generation/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [television. It has changed the way that we perceive the world out there, and though we know that - have indeed been bombarded with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/television-it-has-changed-the-way-that-we-perceive-the-world-out/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [those who despair of life are not long for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/those-who-despair-of-life-are-not-long-for-it/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Mythology is like gravity, inconvenient at times, but necessary for cohesion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/mythology-is-like-gravity-inconvenient-at-times-but-necessary-for/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Creeds and causal systems have argued with each other for millennia, and even so we and our ancestors have managed to live in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/creeds-and-causal-systems-have-argued-with-each-other-for-millennia/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Power is the ability not to have to please.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/power-is-the-ability-not-to-have-to-please/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Love between women is seen as a paradigm of love between equals, and that is perhaps its greatest attraction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/love-between-women-is-seen-as-a-paradigm-of-love-between-equals-and/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Unless I am what I am and feel what I feel - as hard as I can and as honestly and truly as I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/unless-i-am-what-i-am-and-feel-what-i-feel-as-hard-as-i-can-and-as/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [We don't get offered crises, they arrive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/we-don-t-get-offered-crises-they-arrive/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [We older women who know we aren't heroines can offer our younger sisters, at the very least, an honest report of what we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/we-older-women-who-know-we-aren-t-heroines-can-offer-our-younger/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Individual advances turn into social change when enough of them occur.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/individual-advances-turn-into-social-change-when-enough-of-them-occur/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Poets are the leaven in the lump of civilization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/poets-are-the-leaven-in-the-lump-of-civilization/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Man's world' and 'woman's place' have confronted each other since Scylla first faced Charybdis. ... if women have only a place, clearly the rest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/man-s-world-and-woman-s-place-have-confronted-each-other-since-scylla/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Art is a framework, a kind of living trellis, on which public dreaming can shape itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/art-is-a-framework-a-kind-of-living-trellis-on-which-public-dreaming/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [The idea of power as a possession, whose asset can be banked and drawn on when needed, comes easy to a society whose rules…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/the-idea-of-power-as-a-possession-whose-asset-can-be-banked-and-drawn/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) [Explore all 54 Elizabeth Janeway quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) ## More Been quotes > [When I was trying to come up with a stage name, I thought 'Lord' was super rad, but really masculine - ever since I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorde/when-i-was-trying-to-come-up-with-a-stage-name-i-thought-lord-was/) [Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorde/) > [I once told someone I could act. 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