Thank you for this, James. Just because there was no physical barrier to women joining your military group doesn't mean there wasn't a social one, though I'm sure it was unintended. We aren't raised building Airfix like men; we're taught it's 'unusual' for women to study war. 1/x https://twitter.com/WWIairrecon/status/1308732851429543936

Some of my female colleagues have even been told their interest in war is 'ghoulish', which male historians never get told. I often get the 'why are *you* interested in military history?' question, not out of malice, but befuddlement that a woman could want to write about it. 2/x

But being treated differently in those regards, even if it's not done with harmful intentions, can prevent women from believing that they belong in the field of military history. It implies there's something 'wrong' with us - we're too masculine, or aggressive, or just odd. 3/x

Add in the patronising tones of a few select men that *all* female historians have experienced at some point, & we have a field that often feels hostile towards us. So, because some women don't feel confident enough to voice their views, they stay quiet and they stay away. 4/x

But it isn't true that most women aren't interested in war - it's that most are not given the chance to cultivate or develop that passion. They need to be inspired by visible female military historians in the way that countless male historians have been by their fellow man. 5/x

Now of course, the study of military history wasn't 'designed' for women because it is the remnants of a narrative in which women were largely excluded from the higher echelons of military decision-making. It was (and is) male-dominated for a logical reason in that respect. 6/x

But as military forces begin to (slowly) diversify, both women and men need to be shown that women are just as relevant writing about military history as they are in making it. Only then will we address the imbalance and more female military historians will come to the fore. 7/7

Side note: I deeply admire @WWIairrecon and his immeasurable contributions to airpower. This thread should not be interpreted as an attack on his observations, but rather a polite dissection of the entrenched myth that women aren't as interested in military history as men are.