Within British women’s history, historians have illuminated the complexity of British post-war society and the particular role played by women within it. Studies show that the post-war woman was considered a significant citizen, crucial for the rebuilding of Britain, both as a worker and as a mother. Building on work within women’s and radio history, the aim of my research is to explore the relationship between the BBC and women in this period. In this paper, I will argue that, through radio, British women were given a voice, as workers and as housewives. This was, however, not without difficulties. The paper also highlights the complexity of the female radio audience and the struggle that faced broadcasters. The material under discussion reflects the changes and negotiations that were taking place in society at that time, and the paper emphasises the important role played by female listeners and by women’s radio in Britain.

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Since its early introduction in the domestic sphere in the 1920s, radio has been used as a medium for the expression of women's voices, needs and concerns. In this introduction we would like to mobilise an understanding of radio as a vital source for doing women's history. Women's radio programming, women broadcasters, and women listeners provide a lens through which a number of histories can be analysed. This introduction provides an overview of the historical relationship between women and radio. It is further dedicated to research that explores the overlapping spaces of radio and women's history, and in particular, points to how radio-related source material can provide new points of departure for women's history. My desktop is a transnational audio time machine: through it, I can listen to women's voices across different eras and continents. I can feel my heart beating faster as I listen to one of the earliest known recordings in existence: Florence Nightingale's voice, crackly, barely decipherable, seems buried in a wax cylinder recording made in 1890: "God bless my dear old comrades of Balaclava and bring them safe to shore" […]. I forward my listening to 1971. I can hear New York feminists conducting a live on-air "housework consciousness raising" on the Pacifica Radio station WBAI NYC. Mid-1990s: I feel like I am actually sitting among a group of Irish women around a kitchen table in the terraced house that is Radio Pirate Women/ Women's Scéal Radio (Scéal is Irish for gossip or stories) in Galway. They discuss music, international politics, activist theater, Greenham Common, wages for housework, and how to get an abortion. 1992: I am inspired by the feisty jingles made by the Girls Express team from the Fem FM Archive in Bristol, United Kingdom. 1 Caroline Mitchell, an expert on radio, participation and community media, here describes her digital audio desktop as both a 'time machine and a mirror' that is 're-sounding, representing, and with the potential to recirculate women's activism, creativity, and voices'. 2 Mitchell's words play a twofold purpose here. First, they highlight the very long historical relationship between women, sound recording technology, and radio. Second, her words point to the connections between radio and women's (feminist) activism. This themed section of the Women's History Review is dedicated to research that explores the overlapping spaces of radio and women's history. The articles presented take up this challenge by considering radio as a source for doing women's history. 3 The authors address several key questions: what can radio tell us about women's experiences and agency? How can radio

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