Genderhistorische

Genderhistorische, or gender history, is a field within historiography that treats gender as a central analytic category for understanding past societies. In Dutch scholarship, it aims to show how gender relations—encompassing masculinity, femininity, and gendered power—shaped economies, politics, culture, and everyday life, and how historical narratives themselves are shaped by gendered assumptions.

Rooted in feminist historiography of the late 20th century, genderhistorische approaches expanded beyond women's history to examine how norms about gender influence institutions and events. Pioneering work, including Joan W. Scott's assertion that gender is a structuring principle in history, highlighted the performativity of gender and the politics of historical representation.

Methodologically, genderhistorische research combines traditional source work with gender analysis, intersectionality, and, where relevant, queer theory. Researchers look for how laws, markets, family life, religion, and education entrench or challenge gender hierarchies, using archives, biographies, court records, newspapers, and cultural artifacts to trace changing ideas and practices.

Key themes include labor and property, reproduction and care, sexuality, political participation, and representation in media and memory. Debates in the field address issues of essentialism versus constructivism, the scope of masculinity, and the inclusion of trans and non-binary histories as part of gendered histories.

Overall, genderhistorische seeks to illuminate how gender has shaped historical processes and how history, in turn, has constructed gender. It is an interdisciplinary and evolving area that intersects with anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies.