Uncredited by Allison Tyra is an overview that looks at various women throughout history who have been uncredited, overlooked, disregarded, and undervalued by society.
This book is a longer read, with just over 500 pages in length, yet one that can be highly recommended to anyone who feels passionate about the treatment of women and just how much they have contributed to society and the arts.
A majority of the examples in the book are surface level with footnotes and additional courses to help guide readers in where to look to learn more, although there are parts where it goes more in-depth into specific women. Most women only got a paragraph or two about their contributions to history, science, and art amongst other subjects. Some women, though, did receive a page or a page and a half detailing their uncredited histories and work, the ways they had their work stolen, abilities disregarded, and other issues overlooked in favor of men taking the accomplishments for themselves.
There is a section devoted to what gets reported about women in the first place, with women being overshadowed by the various men in their lives. Another section details women whose works have been damaged, edited, or censored by men both during their lives and after their deaths.
A third section is devoted to museums and galleries, and the lack of women on display or properly credited, especially as it’s primarily men who decide what works to collect and feature in galleries and such. An interesting fact reveals that the gender bias even extends to the specimens of animals displayed, with more male specimens than females in museums around the world.
Even more sections include modern-day issues women still face, such as in healthcare or social issues, female artists whose works have been plagiarised by men, and women who have been aged down by Hollywood’s casting in movies about their lives to make them appear more attractive and appealing to the audience.
There is so much research done behind the scenes to have discovered the various women and their stories. For example, Protestant martyr Anne Askew, who was one of only two women that was known to have been both tortured in the Tower of London and burned at the stake. Askew was executed in 1546. However, she had written a first-person account of her ordeal and beliefs, yet her works were changed by two different means after her death in order to serve separate purposes. Askew is just one of many women throughout history who have had men edit or change their works to suit various agendas and beliefs.
There is a strong distaste for men who have taken agency away from women throughout this book, as the author has done their research to find out the names of those individuals as well as groups who have edited, destroyed, damaged, and refused to credit women for their achievements and talents.
One section of the book is devoted to androcentrism, which is a mindset that assumes male as the default, especially in powerful roles. It can sometimes be so strong that even when proven otherwise, archaeologists, historians, and other academics will still argue that it had to have been a man instead of a woman, beyond logic or reason. This section delves into women who were the firsts in their fields, such as Ada Lovelace, a mathematician who is now widely recognised as the world’s first computer programmer. Despite letters and detailed notes being written in her handwriting, historians still spent years debating who really could have written the notes before finally acknowledging it was Lovelace who wrote them based on her own calculations and ideas.
Uncredited delves into so much history that it’s impossible to truly write all of it into one review. Therefore, I will say this: the amount of research, recognition, and respect given to the women who history has not treated kindly is astounding. So much work has gone into crafting this book that anyone interested in learning about smart, powerful, brave, and interesting women will enjoy this read.
It does become more academically leaning at times, but the words remain simple to understand, and the prose flows well into each section. The footnotes provide readers with the ability to do their own research into each woman mentioned throughout the book. So many of the stories feature women whose work was stolen by other men, covered up by men, or disregarded by men.
Uncredited also steps into popular culture and modern times, of how women are often disregarded for their own health needs or other issues in society. This book does not shy away from calling out the issues of sexism within society and the various ways it affects women to this day.
Allison Tyra had her work cut out for her when she started to write this book, yet she stepped up to the plate and succeeded. Ending the book with a list of further readings is the only possible way to finish a book about women and their work, giving readers the ability to further delve into the issues raised within the sections.