Podcast of the Month – Thanks for Typing
This month’s Podcast of the Month is Thanks for Typing which uncovers the hidden contributions of Sociologists’ wives to their research.
Behind many of the landmark studies that shaped modern sociology lies a story rarely told. The Thanks for Typing podcast, created by Ros Edwards and Val Gillies, sets out to uncover the invisible labour of sociologists’ wives – women whose work, support, and intellectual contributions often went unacknowledged.
Produced by Research Podcasts and supported by the Sociological Review Foundation, this six-episode series takes listeners into the archives, the diaries, and the lived realities of women like Phyllis Willmott and Pat Marsden, whose roles were central to the production of influential community, class, and family studies.
Where it all began
The series is rooted in the viral #ThanksForTyping hashtag, which in 2017 shone a spotlight on the way wives’ uncredited labour has long propped up academic knowledge. From typing manuscripts late into the night to conducting interviews, editing drafts, and even carrying out fieldwork, wives were often hidden collaborators in their husbands’ sociological research.
Through thoughtful conversations and historical exploration, Ros and Val reveal just how much these women shaped the discipline, while also asking what their stories tell us about gender, domesticity, and sexism in the academy – then and now.
What to expect
Across six episodes, Ros and Val take listeners on a journey through both the archives and contemporary debates about women’s place in the academy. The podcast opens with “Thanks to My Wife: gender and politics in the academy”, where they revisit the hashtag that inspired the series and speak with Bruce Holsinger, who first drew attention to the phenomenon, alongside feminist educator Miriam David. Together, they explore how the hidden labour of wives has long underpinned academic success.
The second episode, “Wifedom: how are wives incorporated in their husbands’ work”, digs deeper into how the status of “wife” became institutionalised within academic life, with author Anna Funder and sociologist Dame Janet Finch reflecting on how women’s identities were folded into their husbands’ work. In “Wives in the archives: researching wives’ contributions to their husbands’ work”, Ros and Val turn their attention to the traces left behind – from letters and diaries to manuscripts – that reveal the true extent of wives’ involvement in classic sociological studies.
Later in the series, the conversation shifts to the intersections of gender and class. In “The contributions of wives: questions of class”, with historian Selina Todd, Ros and Val examine how women’s work varied depending on social position, and how class shaped not just opportunities but recognition. Episode five, “Slivers and footnotes: recognising wives and women in sociology”, asks how wives and women more broadly appear in the margins of sociology, with Lebogang Mokwena and John Goodwin discussing what this means for how the discipline is remembered and taught today.
Finally, the series closes with “The academic wife: who is she today?”, where sociologists Katherine Twamley and Charlotte Faircloth reflect on the contemporary dynamics of academic couples and how gendered expectations continue to shape family and research life.
Why it matters
Thanks for Typing is more than a history of overlooked contributions. It’s a conversation about the politics of recognition in academia, the gendered dynamics of knowledge production, and how sociology continues to be shaped by invisible labour.
By bringing these stories to the surface, Ros and Val challenge us to rethink whose work gets remembered, whose names make it onto the title page, and whose voices shape the discipline.
Research Podcasts offer podcast production and training for researchers and academics. If you have an idea, we can make it a reality.
Lauren White, Assistant Producer
