Episode Details

Adrian Wooldridge highlights the historical blindness toward women's talent among 19th-century reformers who excluded them from competitive examinations. However, the meritocratic logic of objective measurement eventually provided women with the tools to challenge these exclusions. A pivotal moment occurred when Philippa Fawcettoutperformed the top male mathematicians at Cambridge. The World Wars further eroded these barriers, as the state was forced to utilize all available intellectual talent, including thousands of female codebreakers at Bletchley Park, proving that vast amounts of hidden talent existed within the general population. 4
1680 CHARLES II