For International Women’s Day, here’s a varied roundup of some highlights from the gender category in the sidebar.

For China, posts on the lives of rural women include

• women of Yanggao (three posts, on women of Daoist families; sectarians and mediums; and (with an introduction to women in the Chinese historical soundscape) singers.
• women of Gaoluo
• lives under Maoism in a Shaanbei village
• nuns of rural Hebei
• among aperçus from Li Min, daughter of household Daoist Li Manshan, see here
• lives of female mediums
• a documentary about a Hakka nun
• The fate of poor women in Zuoquan, Shanxi

and on urban women:

• Spiritual and marvellous mysteries
• Dressing modestly

See also

• Women in Tibetan expressive culture
• Women in Tibet, 2.

For Europe, posts include:

•  Les Parisiennes
• Ravensbrück
• Noor Inayat Khan
• Nadine Hwang
• A two-part biography of my orchestral colleague Hildi, who survived successive regimes in 1940s’ Germany (here and here)
• my great-aunt Edith Miles, a teacher in the 1920s’ East End who returned to rural Wiltshire after falling deaf, becoming a children’s author
• Morris dancing!
• a most inspiring post on young female footballers, complementing
• Belated recognition.

Some thoughts on sexist language:

• Vera and Doris—featuring “Rear Admiral” Foley—the Benny Hill of the US Navy
• Words and women

as well as a paean to AOC and Katelyn Ohashi:

• The Tzar-spangled banner—diversity—female genius

and the furore over Sanna Marin dancing:

• The body politic.

Note also

• The sceptical feminist
• Sexual politics
• Patricia Lockwood, here and here
• The handmaid’s tale
• The reinvention of humanity
• Querying the notion of gender equality in Alevism.

In music, gender studies have become a major theme, besides female musicians generally:

• the ground-breaking work of Susan McClary
• flamenco 2, with further readings on gender and music
• Ute Lemper and the diva/femme fatale tropes
• Women of Herat
• Viv Albertine
• Nina Hagen
• feminist punk (also for Beijing)
• feminist songs
• Barbara Hannigan
• Yin and yang: the divine Hélène Grimaud
• Meredith Monk

and many more. Indeed, my varied Playlist of songs is dominated by female singers. Oh, and don’t forget The T-shirt of female composers—constantly in need of new additions!

Among humorists, Stella Gibbons, Bridget Christie, and Philomena Cunk have their own tags in the sidebar, among which some favourites are

• Em creeps in with a pie
• Feminist humour, old and new
• Cunk on Britain, and hey, “femininism” and Shakespeare

Relevant posts on film include

• Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the “elfin waif” shtick
• Killing Eve.

Anyway, that’s just a selection from an ever-growing list…