Economica - finding women at the center of our world from the beginning of time
- Affan Kermani
- Feb 23
- 3 min read
“In the middle of the fourth century BCE, a woman by the name of Phryne cast off her clothes and walked naked into the sea at the festival of Poseidon. Born into a family of caper farmers, Phryne had moved to Athens in her youth, where she supported herself by entertaining elite men with a combination of wit and beauty. While she was free to use her body to sexually gratify the Athenian ruling class, it turns out she was not free to skinny dip.
Her naked seaside antics brought her before a court, where she was charged with impiety, for which the punishment was death. Just as she was about to be convicted, her lawyer reached over and ripped the gown from Phyrne’s body, leaving her nude in front of the all-male jury. The bold and Brazen strategy worked, as Phryne was found not guilty on the basis that her body was so goddess-like that gods would be offended if she were sentenced to death.” Pages 68/69
Historian Victoria Bateman weaves a thrilling, globe-spanning narrative that proves women weren't 'missing' from economic life; they were merely hidden from view. We discover the female workers who helped to build the Great Pyramid of Giza, and to plumb the city of ancient Rome; the silk weavers who made a vital contribution to the development of the Silk Road and global trade; the women who dominated London's brewing trade during medieval times; and the brave twentieth-century pioneers who fought to make our economies not just richer but fairer. Economica rewrites our understanding of women's role in the economy and tells a more accurate economic history of us all.
Growing up, I always wondered about the disparity between men and women. Why women underdressed, and men overdressed: the suit versus the skirt. Why did mother have to cook, and father never participated?
As I grew older, I wondered if women had something to do with how they are objectified and discriminated against. Why do they feel they need lipsticks and the thousand other make-up things to look somewhat plastic-like? What drives women to want vanity?
Maybe the answer is they are just too smart and play up to men’s weaknesses just like Phryne did. Then the fact that Victoria Batemen documents women over time and how some or even most may not have cared about vanity and not lived a life through the eyes of men, makes me wonder how we got to where we are and need to fight so hard for equality between genders?
March 8th, 2026, is International Women’s Day. How better to celebrate all our women members than to take a journey with Victoria Bateman’s book? Please consider joining the 6D Book Club Economica: A Global History of Women, Wealth & Power by Victoria Bateman on Mondays beginning on April 6th, 2026.
Victoria Bateman has taught at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, most recently as the director of studies in economics at Gonville & Caius College. She is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Arts and author of The Sex Factor and Naked Feminism. She lives in Kent, UK.
A Financial Times Best Book of 2025. Economica places women at the center of the story of economic growth. Starting in the Stone Age and continuing to the present day, it takes the reader through the key economic milestones of the past twelve millennia - from the birth of farming to the advent of computing - all told through the experiences of women as well as men.
Affan is a US tax professional within the financial services industry. He survived Polio as an infant of twenty-eight days in the early seventies. As a person with disabilities, Affan has been on a lifelong journey seeking ways to manage muscle weaknesses, bone loss, and contain progressive disability that comes with Post Polio Syndrome. He discovered the ‘Whole Foods Plant’ lifestyle during the thick of COVID-19 and adopted the lifestyle evidencing a positive shift in energy and mobility.
Affan moderates book clubs with a focus on books that will lead minds to contemplate the human ability of ‘mind over matter’ and the influence of modern-day technology and environment, on how each of us can best navigate life for our individual needs of health and wellbeing. Affan is also an administrator on our 6D Facebook Page - and the writer of these posts, of course!
Be well
Stop.Breathe.Focus.Move.Flow.
Comments