Women's History

About the seminar

The Women’s History seminar was founded in 1986 to provide a venue for papers on the history of women in particular, and of gender more broadly.  The convenors come from around the UK and signify the breadth of the seminar’s coverage and its dedication to forging links between scholars from around the world.  The seminar meets regularly through the academic year and is attended by UK and visiting academics, post-graduate students, and the wider public.  Over the years it has become a globally key seminar on the subject where leaders in the field have spoken.  

The seminar is about the varieties of female experience.  Papers range from the ancient world to the modern, from the local to the global, and deal with all corners of the globe.  The speakers take a wide range of approaches from the political and social meanings of the suffragette to the lives of both medieval and modern nuns.  They investigate the ways gender interacts with other factors, particularly race and class, to explore the experience of women from the factory floor to the milking parlour to the milliner’s shop to reveal the varieties of female experience.  The history of masculinity and the way men’s lives are affected by gender norms are also addressed.

If you would like to propose a paper for the seminar, have any questions relating to specific papers or the seminar in general, or would like to join our email circulation list, please contact Dr Kelly Boyd.

Follow the Women's History on twitter: @IHRWomen