Have you ever thought about the contributions that the wives of academics have made to their husband’s work and how those contributions have been acknowledged? In Episode 1 we’re looking at the Thanks For Typing hashtag that went viral in 2017, shining a spotlight onto the often hidden work of wives over the years. Ros and Val are joined by the hashtag’s originator, Bruce Holsinger, an author and academic based at the University of Virginia. They’re also joined by Miriam David, a feminist educator at University College London, who has written about gender and the academy. They discuss how the hashtag came about and consider how and why it went viral. They go on to reflect on the unseen contributions of wives to their husbands’ academic work and the implications of that in the past and today.

Episode Credits

Guests: Bruce Holsinger and Miriam David
Hosts: Ros Edwards and Val Gillies
Producer: Chris Garrington
Music: The Beat of Nature, Olexy
Artwork: Krissie Brighty-Glover

Episode Resources

• David, M. E. (2017). A Feminist Manifesto for Education. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
• David, M. (2015). The State, the Family and Education (Routledge Revivals). Oxfordshire: Routledge.
• ‌David, M. E. (2016). Feminism, Gender and Universities; Politics, Passion and Pedagogies. Oxfordshire: Routledge.
• David, M. E. (2003). Personal and political : feminisms, sociology, and family lives. London: Trentham Books.
• Bristol Women’s Study Group (ed.) (1979). Half the Sky; An Introduction to Women’s Studies. London: Virago.
• Coe, A. (2013, January 17). Being Married Helps Professors Get Ahead, but Only If They’re Male. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/01/being-married-helps-professors-get-ahead-but-only-if-theyre-male/267289/
• Smith, V. (2024). Hags; The demonisation of middle-aged women. London: Little Brown.
• Edwards, R., & Gillies, V. (2023, September 11). Working class community life in 1960s Salford: The Trinity Estate. The Modern Backdrop; Modern Architecture and Communities in Salford. https://hub.salford.ac.uk/modern-salford/2023/09/11/working-class-community-life-in-1960s-salford-the-trinity-estate/
• Mukwana, R. (2022, July 5). Ep 20 A Brief Glimpse Into the Transformative Power of Literature with Bruce Holsinger. Stories and Humanitarian Action (SAHA) Podcast.
• Search the hashtag #ThanksForTyping on X (formerly twitter).

Find out more about Thanks for Typing at The Sociological Review.