In this important volume, Avril Maddrell traces the often overlooked contributions of women to the study of geography, and illustrates how women played a significant role in the development of the field as an academic discipline. Exploring the careers of female geographers, including Mary Somerville, Gertrude Bell, Eva Taylor, Alice Garnett, Marjorie Sweeting and Anne Buttimer from 1850 to 1970, Maddrell delves into individual biographies that illuminate the evolving role of British women geographers with reference to women in European and American geography, other disciplines, and in the context of wider socioeconomic, political and educational developments.

Was geography ever an exclusively male domain? This research shows that it was not. However, by examining further the extent to which women were included or excluded both from the halls of academia, geographical societies and field research, we can consider the discipline's power relations and their implications for women in geography today.

Avril Maddrell is a social, cultural and historical geographer, specializing in gender and geographical thought. She has taught at Westminster College in Oxford, the Open University, Oxford Brookes University, and is currently Senior Lecturer in Geography at the University of the West of England in Bristol. Dr Maddrell's research for this volume has been supported by the British Academy.