THE general decline in the number of Leaving Certificate pupils studying history masks a disproportionate loss of girls from the subject. Up to the mid-1960s about 10 per cent more girls than boys studied history. Since subject options for girls improved in languages, mathematics and the sciences, the proportion of girls studying history has dropped well below that of boys. The dominance of political, diplomatic and military themes in the current syllabus may also have been a factor.

The new history syllabus has a more balanced cast and each topic is now studied from cultural and social angles as well as political and military angles. Some of the women set to re-enter the history books are South African novelist Nadine Gordimer, founder of the Irish Sisters of Charity Mother Mary Aikenhead, Irish abstract artist Evie Hone, French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, Polish physicist Marie Curie and seafarer and chieftain Grace O'Malley.