Women's History Network
Newsletter
Issue No 2, August 2008
About the Newsletter
The Newsletter of the Women’s History Network is circulated to all members on a quarterly basis.
It provides an up-to-date means of communication and information sharing between members of
the network and enables the Steering Committee to keep members up-to-date with news,
conferences and other events concerning women’s history. The Newsletter provides a forum for
publicising your events and informing members about other activities and projects
The contents of the Newsletter depend partly upon what has been submitted for circulation by
members. So please feel free to send information about Conferences, Events, News, indeed
anything which you think would be of interest to members of WHN. Send copy to the editor, Jean
Spence, at: newsletter@womenshistorynetwork.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Steering Committee and Membership
AGM September 2008
All members and prospective members are warmly invited to the 2008 Annual General Meeting of
the Women’s History Network (UK) to be held on Saturday September 6th 2008 at the University
of Glasgow.
The meeting will take place at 5pm during the 17th Annual Conference of the Women’s History
Network, ‘Gender and Generations: Women and Life Cycles’ hosted by the Centre for Gender
Studies at the University of Glasgow, Gilmorehill G12.
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For members not attending the conference, further information about the exact location of the
meeting can be obtained from:
Valerie Wright, Centre for Gender History, University of Glasgow
Lilybank House, Bute Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RT
Email whnconference@arts.gla.ac.uk
New Steering Committee Members
The steering committee has received four nominations for members who wish to serve on the
steering committee from September 2008. This would be for a two year period with the option of
being re-elected for a further two years. In addition, five serving members are standing for reelection at the AGM. Further nominations can still be put forward before and during the AGM.
Please note that Elizabeth Foyster, Gerry Holloway and Stephanie Spencer will be retiring from
the committee at the AGM and we thank them warmly for their service to the network.
If you are unable to attend the AGM, you can nominate a committee member or cast your vote for
one or more of the members listed below in advance of the meeting by emailing their names to
the convenor of the steering committee at enquiries@womenshistorynetwork.org.
You have the option of voting for all the members who will be standing if you so wish. The closing
date for advance nominations and votes is Wednesday September 3rd.
Biographies of new members standing for election
Henrice Altink gained her Ph. D at the University of Hull. She is a lecturer in modern history at
the University of York, where she teaches courses on Caribbean and American history. She was
previously a lecturer in American history at the University of Glamorgan, where she was a
committee member of the West of England and South Wales regional branch of the WHN. Her
research focuses on the intersection of race, class and gender in Jamaica during slavery and
freedom. She has published books on Representations of Slavery women in Discourses on
slavery and abolition, 1780-1838 (Routledge, 2007) and Destined for a Life of Service:
Constructing African Jamaican Womanhood, 1865-1938 (MUP, forthcoming). She is the co-editor
of Gendering Border Studies (University of Wales Press, forthcoming) and an associate-editor for
Wadabagei, a journal of the Caribbean and its diasporas.
She can bring to the committee extensive experience of organising and hosting seminars and
conferences for the West of England and South Wales branch of the WHN and for the Society of
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Caribbean Studies, of which she has been committee member since 2003. In addition, she can
help to extend the committee’s geographical focus as she works on the British Caribbean but
teaches largely North America history. And finally, the committee may be able to benefit from her
contacts with women’s historians/feminist scholars in the Americas, gained as a result of research
trips to the Caribbean and more recently, a fellowship at the Five College Women’s Studies and
Research Center at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.
Anne Logan is Director of Studies, Criminal Justice Studies, and Lecturer in Social History,
School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent. Her research
interests are in the history of feminism and the history of criminal justice, gender, voluntary work
and professionalism. She is the author of: Feminism and Criminal Justice: a Historical
Perspective, Palgrave Macmillan (November 2008); ‘Feminist Criminology in Britain C.1920-1960:
education, agency and activism outside the academy’ in J. Spence et al (eds) Women, Education
and Agency 1600-2000, Routledge (2008); ‘In Search of Equal Citizenship: the campaign for
women magistrates in England and Wales, 1910-1939’, Women’s History Review 16, 4 (2007);
‘Professionalism and the impact of England’s first women justices, 1920-1950’, The Historical
Journal, 49, 3 (2006); ‘A Suitable Person for Suitable Cases’: The Gendering of Juvenile Courts
in England, c. 1910-39’, Twentieth Century British History, vol.16, No.2 (2005). She teaches
nineteenth and early twentieth century British social history and women’s history at
undergraduate level and the ‘History of Crime & Punishment’ on the MA Criminology programme.
Helen Meller is Professor Emeritus of History from the University of Nottingham. She was one of
the members of the founding committee of WHN, responsible for developing the WHN
constitution, and served as Treasurer from 1991 – 5. In 1993, she coordinated a group of
scholars: Jane Rendall, Penny Summerfield, June Hannam and Kath Holden in a project for the
government funded Teaching Learning Technology Programme on Themes in Women’s History.
Her main research interests have been in urban history and planning where, as Director of the
Centre for Urban Culture at Nottingham, she has also introduced women’s history themes. The
proceeds of a workshop on women and built space has since appeared as Women and the
Making of Built Space in England 1870-1950 edited by Elizabeth Darling and Lesley Whitworth
(Aldershot, Ashgate, 2007). Her most recent monograph on urban planning is European Cities
1890-1930s: history, culture and the built environment (Chichester and New York, John Wiley and
sons, 2001). She is currently editor of Planning Perspectives: an international journal of history,
planning and the environment, and on the Council of the International Planning History Society.
Rachel Newnes is a 25 year old student who is just beginning postgraduate studies in Gender
and Culture at Swansea University. She has a strong interest in women's history and feels it
should be accessible to anyone who wishes to understand the roots of women's evolution. She is
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also concerned that Gender History should be more widely promoted amongst students, with
more resources and research opportunities available for all. If successful in gaining a place on the
committee she would like to take an active role in widening participation and publicising the
committee to young scholars who want to take research further but may not have heard of the
Network. She is planning to research the enclosed woman in medieval times and also has
interests in Gender Theory and Queer Theory. She is a keen rugby supporter, works voluntarily
for the NSPCC with young people, and has a young son who keeps her busy.
Members standing for re-election
Kath Holden gained her PhD as a mature student at the University of Essex in 1996 and now
works at the University of the West of England as a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Social
Science and Humanities. She is a founder member and treasurer of the West of England and
South Wales regional branch and represented the region on the National WHN steering
committee from 1997-2001. In 2000 she organised the annual conference in Bath on 'Heartlands
and Peripheries in Women's History' with June Hannam. Her main research is in family and
gender history with a particular interest in marital status and the lives of single men and women in
the twentieth century. Key publications in this area are: The Family Story: Blood, Contract and
Intimacy 1830-1960, co-authored with Leonore Davidoff, Megan Doolittle and Janet Fink,
(Longman: 1999), 'Imaginary widows: spinsters, marriage and the 'lost generation' in Britain after
the Great War' Journal of Family History, 30, 4 (2005); and The Shadow of Marriage: Singleness
in England 1914-1960, Manchester University Press, 2007. Kath is convenor of the steering
committee.
Alison McCall gained her BA (Hons) through the OU in 1999. Since then she has researched
career women in Victorian Aberdeen. She is a member of Women's History Scotland and
contributed to the Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women. She is the author of ‘The Poetry
and Life of Bessie Craigmyle, the Sappho of Strawberry Bank’. AUR Autumn 2005 and Aberdeen
School Board Female Teachers 1872-1901: A Biographical List (Aberdeen & N.E. Scotland
Family History Society 2007).
Sue Morgan gained her PhD as a mature student at the University of Bristol in 1997. She was
appointed Head of History at the University of Chichester in 1998 and then Head of the School of
Cultural Studies in 2001-07. She has now relinquished all of her management duties and is
thoroughly enjoying her role as Reader in Women's and Gender History. Sue teaches nineteenthcentury British gender and cultural history and her main research interests are in late-Victorian
and Edwardian religion and gender. She has published widely in the fields of feminist historical
theory, gender history and religious history including Women, Religion and Feminism in Britain,
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1750-1900 (Palgrave, 2002), The Feminist History Reader (Routledge, 2006) and Women,
Gender and Religious Cultures in Britain, 1800-1940 (Routledge, forthcoming 2009) co-edited
with Jacqui deVries. She is currently working on a new monograph on religion, sexuality and
modernity. Sue is an editorial board member for 'Rethinking History' and 'Gender and History'.
She is a WHN trustee and manages gift aid for the charity.
Jane Potter is Senior Lecturer in Publishing at the Oxford International Centre for Publishing
Studies, Oxford Brookes University, where she teaches modules on book history and the culture
of publishing. Her main research is on women's writing of the Great War. Her book Boys in Khaki,
Girls in Print: Women's Literary Responses to the Great War 1914-1918 (2005) is published by
Oxford University Press and she has contributed ‘Valiant Heroines or Pacific Ladies? Women in
War & Peace’ to the Routledge History of European Women Since 1700. Her other publications
include ‘For Country, Conscience & Commerce: Publishers and Publishing 1914-1918’ in
Publishing and the First World War: Essays in Book History, and articles for the History of the
Book in Scotland (volume 4), the Women at War Encyclopedia, and the Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography. Her online course, ‘Reading Poetry of the First World War’, features on the
Bloomsbury.com website. She is one of the three Editors of Women's History Magazine and is
also Book Reviews Editor.
Louise Wannell. Louise has recently worked as a temporary lecturer at the University of York,
where she also studied for her PhD ‘Writing the Asylum: Madness, Culture and Subjectivity at the
York Retreat: 1880-1940’. She works on the social and cultural history of modern Britain with
particular focus upon women’s and gender history, the history of 'madness' and psychiatry and
the history of the self and subjectivities. She teaches in the History department and the Centre for
Women Studies on courses in Gender, class and race in Britain in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, the History of Sexualities and the History of Psychiatry. Louise is the network’s
membership secretary.
……………………………………………..
Gift Aid Forms
In our recent (and first) submission to HMRC for reclaiming tax back via the Gift Aid system, I
discovered that very few of our existing membership have actually signed one of these
declaration forms, just a little over 20% of members in fact. Even with this small number we have
been able to reclaim over £400 back, so it is a very important and efficient way of earning money
for the network.
I’d like to submit a bumper crop of forms in April 2009 and increase our revenue entitlement even
further, so could I ask everyone who thinks they may not have done this since September 2006,
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when we first officially gained charity status, to either download the form on the WHN website,
complete it and send it to me at the address below or, alternatively, email me direct for a
membership form with Gift Aid declaration.
Thanks – for a few minutes work it really will make a significant difference to our future finances.
Forms will also be available for signing at the Glasgow conference.
Best wishes
Sue Morgan,
Reader in Women’s and Gender History, Department of History,
Faculty of Business, Arts and Humanities, University of Chichester, College Lane,
Chichester PO19 6PE.
s.morgan@chi.ac.uk
……………………………………………..
Subscriptions
We recommend that members pay by standing order, as this will give you a reduced rate for
many of the subscriptions. It also helps to decrease administrative work and ensures payment on
time. Please could all members who pay by standing order remember to amend the amount to
the new 2008 subscription rates.
We have also introduced a life membership subscription for members who would like to make a
one off payment. Please contact the membership secretary if you would like to pay your
subscription in this way
Existing members - if any of your details have changed, or a change of status means payment of
a different membership rate, or if you are unsure if your membership is up-to-date, please email
membership@womenshistorynetwork.org
Subscription Rates 2008
Standing Order
Other Payment Mode
Student/unwaged:
£10
£15
Low income (under £20,000 per annum):
£20
£25
High income:
£35
£40
Individual Life membership: £350
UK institutions:
£45
Overseas individuals:
Overseas institutions:
£55
£40
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Prizes
Three prizes are offered annually by the Women’s History Network. They are
1. Women’s History Network Annual UK Book Prize
2. Clare Evans Prize
3. Carol Adams Prize
Details of the arrangements for awarding the individual prizes can be found on the website and in
Issue 1 of this Newsletter.
……………………………………………..
WHN (UK) Book Prize 2008
This year, 10 books were submitted for the £500 Women’s History Network (UK) Book Prize and
the field was particularly strong. That so many books were submitted is a testament to the
prestige of the Prize and to the rigorous selection procedures the present Panel are consistently
employed. The winner this year was Lucy Delap for her book The Feminist Avant-Garde:
Transatlantic Encounters of the Early Twentieth Century (Cambridge University Press, 2007).
The Panel comprising Barbara Bush, Sheffield Hallam: Anne Laurence, Open University: Kathryn
Gleadle, Oxford: Mary Joannou, Anglia Ruskin, with myself as Chair, were particularly impressed
with the high level of scholarship of this book which nonetheless, remains accessible to the nonspecialist. The book focuses on one branch of feminism epitomised in the journal The
Freewoman, edited by Dora Marsden. The author explores the political ideas of the avant garde
within the wider preoccupations of the period, emphasising transatlantic influences and
exchanges. Overall, it was felt that The Feminist Avant-Garde disrupts traditional narratives
about early twentieth-century feminism, raising many intriguing questions.
June Purvis, Chair of WHN(UK) Book Prize Panel, 26 June 2008
Contact: bookprize@womenshistorynetwork.org
……………………………………………..
Clare Evans Prize and Carol Adams Prize
The judges are meeting during August and the winners of these prizes will be announced at the
conference in Glasgow.
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Conferences, Seminars and Workshops
At a Glance
Women’s History Network Events:

17th Annual National Conference. Gender and Generations: Women and Lifecycles,
5th-7th September 2008. Glasgow University.

18th Annual National Conference, Women, Gender and Political Spaces: Historical
Perspectives, 11th – 13th September 2009, St. Hilda’s College, Oxford.

WHN Midlands Region Conference, Women and Leisure 1890 – 1939, 8th November
2008 - 9:30-1:30
Other Events:

Women Religious and the Political World, Annual conference of theHistorians of
Women Religious in Britain and Ireland, 22nd-23rd August, 2008, National University of
Ireland, Galway.

Labouring Feminism and Feminist Working-Class History in Europe and Beyond,
International Conference, 28th – 31st August 2008, Stockholm.

Photographs & Historical Research Practice, Photo Time Network one-day Seminar
17 September 2008, University of Manchester.

The forgotten generation? Girls and Young women in the 1950s, one-day Seminar,
Sponsored by the Gender and Education Association and the History of Education
Society, 22nd September 2008, University Women’s Club, London.

Music on Stage, 18th-19th October 2008: Rose Bruford College, Sidcup, Kent.

Gender, Vocation and Career, Economic History Society Women’s Committee, 19th
Annual workshop, 1st November 2008, Institute of Historical Research, London.

Political Women, 1500-1900 International Conference, 12th -14th November 2008,
Umeå, Sweden

Gender and Education Association 7th International Conference. Gender: Regulation
and Resistance in Education, 25th – 27th March 2009, Institute of Education, University
of London

Women and Spirituality, 12-13 June 2009, International Conference, LERMA,
Université d’Aix-Marseille, in collaboration with Queen Mary University, London, to be
held in Aix-en-Provence, France.
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Events Details
Women’s History Network Events

Gender and Generations: Women and Lifecycles
5th -7th September 2008
Glasgow University
Women’s History Network 17th Annual Conference
Concepts and experiences of the life-course have been critical to making sense of gender
difference and women's lives in the past, and have traditionally been a central concern of
historians of women. Integral to pioneering work on the history of reproduction and the family,
work and leisure, and the body, science and medicine, analysis of the life cycles of women has
nonetheless left many questions yet to be explored. This conference encourages comparison of
women's life cycle experiences both across the widest possible range of times and places, and
with the life cycle experiences of men. The focus will also be on inter-generational relations as an
important, yet often neglected, explanatory factor in either continuity or change over time.
Keynote Speakers:
Professor Lynda Coon, University of Arkansas
Professor Mary Beth Norton, Cornell University
Dr Michael Roper, University of Essex
http://www.gla.ac.uk./departments/historicalstudies/researchcentres/centreforgenderhistory/event
s/
The conference is sponsored by the Economic History Society, the Royal Historical Society and
the British Academy.
……………………………………………

Women, Gender and Political Spaces: Historical Perspectives
11th – 13th September 2009
St. Hilda’s College, Oxford
Women’s History Network 18th Annual National Conference
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The WHN (UK) 2009 conference on the theme 'Women, Gender and Political Spaces: Historical
Perspectives' will be held at St Hilda's College, Oxford 11-13 September.
The organisers will be Janet Howarth, Kathryn Gleadle and June Purvis.
……………………………………………

Women and Leisure 1890 - 1939
8th November 2008 - 9:30-1:30
Staffordshire University.
Women’s History Network Conference - Midlands Region
This conference explores the ways in which women used leisure to gain independence, identity or
just a little space for themselves as women developed economic and political power in the early
twentieth century.
Conference fee - £8 Concessions - £4 - Staffordshire University students and under 18s free
Lunch package available for those who pre-book
For further details and to book a place - please contact Dr Maggie Andrews, Faculty of Arts
Media and Design, Staffordshire University, College Road, Stoke on Trent, ST4 2XW
Tel: 01782 294415
m.r.andrews@staffs.ac.uk
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Other Events

Women Religious and the Political World
Annual Conference of the Historians of Women Religious in Britain and Ireland.
National University of Ireland, Galway
22nd-23rd August 2008.
Historians of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland (H-WRBI) will hold their fifth annual
conference: WOMEN RELIGIOUS AND THE POLITICAL WORLD on 22-23 August 2008 at the
National University of Ireland, Galway. It will be an exciting programme of medieval, early
modern and modern papers on themes including:

Missionary work

Political activism and participation

Internal politics of the order

Impact of the political world on communities of women religious

Literary/visual negotiations of contemporary developments
For provisional programme and booking form, please go to http://www.rhul.ac.uk/BedfordCentre/history-women-religious/events.html
……………………………………………
 Labouring Feminism and Feminist Working-Class History in Europe and
Beyond
28-31 August 2008
Stockholm
International Conference
The aim of the conference is to bring together a wide variety of feminist scholars working on
various aspects of labour history, broadly defined, to share their research, to carry on a dialogue
across generational, theoretical, national and disciplinary boundaries and to continue the debate
on how to re-conceptualize working-class history in more inclusive ways.
The conference is structured around five overlapping and inter-related
themes:
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 Gendering working-class history
 Labour feminism and female activism
 Women and work ? paid and unpaid
 Bodies - trade and consumption ? local, regional and international
perspectives
 Cultural and ideological representations of gender related to the
above topics
Registration: Contact silke.neunsinger@arbark.se
……………………………………………
 Photographs & Historical Research Practice
Wednesday 17 September 2008, 10.30am - 4.30pm
University of Manchester
Photo Time Network Event - One-day Seminar
There will be four presentations:

Dr Patrizia Di Bello (University of London)
Seductions and Flirtations: Photographs, Histories, Theories

Professor Elizabeth Edwards (University of the Arts London)
Material Performances of the Past

Professor Alexander Freund (University of Winnipeg)
Telling Life Stories in Pictures: Using Photographs in Oral History

Dr Penny Tinkler (University of Manchester)
Insights into '50s youth? Researching young women's photo collections
For more information visit http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/disciplines/sociology/events/photo2/
……………………………………………
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
The forgotten generation? Girls and Young women in the 1950s
Monday 22nd September 2008, 10.30 am – 4.00 pm
University Women’s Club, London
One-day Seminar
(A Women in the 1950s* Event)
Sponsored by the Gender and Education Association and the History of Education
Society.
This seminar focuses on girls and growing up in Britain in the 1950s. Following presentations on
different aspect of being girls and becoming women, a roundtable discussion will reflect on the
historiography of the 1950s, what we know and the challenges ahead. This seminar is the first in
a series of events on girls and women in the 1950s.
Speakers include: Dr Stephanie Spencer (University Winchester), Dr Claire Langhamer
(University of Sussex), Dr Penny Tinkler (University of Manchester).
Booking and payment
Participation in this seminar is by prior reservation only. As places are limited, you are advised to
book early. There is a fee of £10, payable in advance, which includes lunch and refreshments.
The closing date for receipt of registration forms and payment is 12 September 2008.
Booking form
Further details about the event are available from Dr Stephanie Spencer, email:
stephanie.spencer@winchester.ac.uk
* Women in the 1950s
Women in the 1950s is an initiative organised by Dr Penny Tinkler (Sociology, University of
Manchester), Dr Stephanie Spencer (Faculty of Education, University of Winchester) and Dr
Claire Langhamer (History, University of Sussex).
Our aims are to

shed light on a hitherto neglected generation of girls and women
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
facilitate reflection on the relationship between the 1950s and the 1960s/1970s,
particularly in light of the Women’s Liberation Movement.
Our objectives are to

establish a network of scholars who are researching, and/or who are interested in, girls
and women in 1950s Britain

organise events to disseminate findings and promote further research on girls and
women in the 1950s.
……………………………………………

Music on Stage
18th -19th October 2008
Rose Bruford College, Sidcup, Kent
An international, interdisciplinary conference.
The conference topic is intentionally wide in its appeal as it is hoped papers will cover all aspect
of performance as well as the creation of the music, and its composers. The following strands are
anticipated: historic performance practices; design; production; individual composers and works.
...........................................................

Gender, Vocation and Career
1st November 2008
Institute of Historical Research, London.
Economic History Society Women’s Committee: 19th ANNUAL WORKSHOP
The 19th Annual Workshop of the Economic History Society Women’s Committee will be held at
the Institute of Historical Research (University of London) on 1 st November and will consider the
usefulness of ‘vocation’ and ‘career’ as categories of analysis for historians of gender.
Speakers will include:
Kate Bradley, Rosemary Crompton, Louise Jackson, Anne Logan, Hilary Marland, Pat Thane,
Stephen Taylor, Jane Whittle.
Sessions will include:
Gender and religious vocation
Voluntarism and professionalisation
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Women’s lifecycles and career paths
Evening roundtable on Friday 31st October: conceptualising men and women’s economic
activities over the life-cycle
Academics and postgraduates from all disciplines are welcome
Further information and booking form will be provided on the Economic History
Society’s website (http://www.ehs.org.uk/society/women.asp).
For any enquiries related to the workshop please contact: Helen.mccarthy@sas.ac.uk
…………………………………………..
 Political Women 1500-1900
12-14 November 2008
Umeå, Sweden
International Conference
The conference aims to survey, present and initiate research about politically active women 15001900. The themes include research in politically active women before the breakthrough of political
democracy. The concept includes women who acted in order to influence the exercising of power
and/or participated in establishing political power groups.
The former action may cover women who voted in local, regional or national elections or
attempted to influence those holding political power through petitions, conversations or bribery.
The latter may include the salonnières of the Enlightenment, female patrons or women who were
part of the informal power structures of local society. Women acting politically are of interest
regardless of which social category (peasantry, bourgeoisie, nobility or other) they belonged to.
Åsa Karlsson Sjögren , Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies
Umeå University, S-901 87 Umeå , SWEDEN
Contact: asa.karlsson.sjogren@historia.umu.se
…………………………………………..
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
Gender: Regulation and Resistance in Education
25-27 March 2009
Institute of Education, University of London.
Gender and Education Association 7th International Conference
Keynote Speakers:
Deborah Britzman, Raewyn Connell, Gloria Ladson-Billings
Plenary Panel 1:
Intersectionality, Black British Feminism and resistance in educational research
Suki Ali, Heidi Mirza, Ann Phoenix.
Plenary Panel 2:
Regulation, resistance and activism: troubling margin and centre
Bagele Chilisa, Sylvia Grinberg, Grace Livingstone

How do education and gender regulate?

How do we theorize, research, talk about and enact resistances to regulatory practices
and gender power relations in education?
These questions and the conference theme, Gender, Regulation and Resistance in
Education, invite engagement with gender and feminism at every level of educational practice,
including politics, theorizing, policy creation, research methodologies, pedagogical engagement
and grass-roots activism. The conference draws together an exceptional range of international
speakers working at the cutting edge of feminist and gender theory and research, and political
and educational activism, including those who are resisting current contexts of neo-liberal reform
and increasing global disparities.
Our goal is to create a space for dialogue about gender and education that spans disciplinary,
theoretical, political and national boundaries.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Proposals
We invite proposals for contributions that critically explore questions relating to issues of gender
regulation and resistance in education. For list of possible topics, fields of study and session
formats see www.ioe.ac.uk/fps/genderconference09
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Teachers
We are keen to include teachers and education practitioners in the conference as presenters
and participants. We will be pleased to receive proposals from education practitioners for
standard conference format sessions (such as papers and symposium) or for more
innovative/interactive sessions such as roundtable discussions and workshops. We are also
looking for sessions that will be of interest to education practitioners.
Students
We will be holding a student networking session, for student teachers, undergraduates,
graduates, postgraduates, postdocs. and researchers. The session will address concerns around
doing gender research and finding career paths in gender and education. This session will have
a question/answer component with leaders in the Gender and Education field in collaboration
with the student and postdoctoral reps. At GEA.
Submitting Proposals
Proposals should offer a summary of the presentation/session being proposed, including a short
rationale for the focus and indicating any conceptual framing and empirical material to be
covered or activities to be undertaken. Proposals for single papers, posters, roundtables etc.
should be no more than one side of A$ (approx. 300 words). Proposals for larger sessions such
as symposium or workshops may be up to two sides of A4 (approx. 600 words). We anticipate a
standard allocation of 20 minutes per presentation and 80 minutes per session. However, we
are open to proposals that suggest alternative uses of time – please state this clearly in your
submission. Please include: title; author name(s); institutional affiliation/country; technical
requirements.
Closing Date for Abstracts: 30th September 2008.
Send submissions to: genderandeducation09@ioe.ac.uk
Further details are available at: www.ioe.ac.uk/fps/genderconference09
…………………………………………..

Women and Spirituality
LERMA, Université d’Aix-Marseille, in collaboration with Queen Mary University,
London
12-13 June 2009
Aix-en-Provence, France
International conference
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CALL FOR PAPERS
This conference, focusing on the English-speaking world, will explore the complex relationships
between women and spirituality. Culturally defined by their gender, women occupy an
ambiguous place both at the centre and on the margins of the spiritual sphere. Such
ambivalence is palpable in the Judeo-Christian heritage, where virginity and motherhood are
valued respectively as badges of purity and fruitfulness, whilst the biological processes which
underlie them are considered taboo or impure. Throughout history, women are in turn
represented as inferior, defective creatures or as privileged ‘empty vessels’ in their relationship
with the divine. This dual conception of the nature of woman has influenced the way in which
religious institutions, learned writers, or indeed women themselves came to consider the female
relationship with the divine.
We will explore spirituality as a broad concept, of which religions are a crucial, visible part but
which can also take a variety of pagan or secular forms. Studies of various aspects of female
mysticism, wisdom or contemplation will therefore be appreciated.
This multi-disciplinary conference welcomes papers belonging, amongst others, to the fields of
history, literature and the history of arts. Studies offering a comparative analysis with France will
be gladly considered, as will any papers exploring such themes as:
- The position of religious institutions and religious authorities towards women
- Female spirituality and the construction of a religious orthodoxy
- Accounts of female spirituality (autobiographies, diaries, hagiographies, eulogies
…)
- Feminist perspectives, re-membering the history of women’s spirituality
- The historiography of female spirituality
- Female bodies and female spiritualities
Women and spirituality in fiction and the visual arts
Proposals (approx. 400 words) to be sent to Dr Laurence Lux-Sterritt (laurence.sterritt@univprovence.fr) and Dr Claire Sorin (clairesorin@hotmail.com) before 15 November 2008.
Languages spoken at the conference will be English and French; papers will not exceed 25
minutes each
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WHN Reports
Report of the Women’s History Network South Study Day, 9 February 2008
The 2008 Women’s History Network South Study Day was held at the University of
Kent’s Medway campus on 9th February. It was the first academic conference to be held in the
newly-refurbished Rochester Building, part of the former HMS Pembroke naval base and was
attended by about thirty delegates, including postgraduate and undergraduate students from the
University of Kent.
The day had a full programme consisting of four panels and a plenary session all on the
theme of ‘Women and the Law’. The day opened with two papers on infanticide: Daniel Grey of
Roehampton University spoke on ‘Feminist debates and silences around British Infanticide 18601914’ and Elaine Farrell (Queen’s University, Belfast) provided an Irish perspective in her paper
entitled ‘Infanticide by women in nineteenth century Ireland’. These papers prompted a lively
discussion about attitudes towards infanticide during the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries.
The second panel’s theme was ‘Women’s legal rights in the 20th century’. Laura Probert,
a local historian based in East Kent, gave a paper (‘Are you a Peth or a Pank?’) on the women’s
suffrage movement in Thanet, illustrated by many fascinating photographs from the Edwardian
era. Mari Takayanagi of the Institute of Historical Research, London University, spoke on
‘Women and Parliamentary legislation 1918-1928’. Her paper examined some of the often
underestimated Acts of the period which nevertheless brought about improvements in women’s
rights. Finally, in this panel, Katie Haessly (Nottingham University) gave a paper entitled ‘Female
Conservative representatives’ influence on family law and women’s rights’. Katie’s paper focused
on the support for women’s rights of Joan Vickers (an MP from 1955 to 1974) and Baroness
Janet Young, and underlined the point that historians have often overlooked the feminist activities
of Conservative women.
The plenary session was addressed by Dr Helen Self. A graduate of the University of
Kent and daughter of a pioneer of women’s history, Constance Rover, Helen is the author of
Prostitution, Women and Misuse of the Law: The Fallen Daughters of Eve (2003). Her paper,
‘Change and continuity in prostitution-related offences’ reminded us that the law in relation to
prostitution is once again a political issue and that while there have been apparent changes in
policy over the years, there has also been a great deal of continuity. Tracing the law on
prostitution from the 1824 Vagrancy Act to the modern-day imposition of ‘anti-social behaviour
orders’ she suggested that there were lessons for policy makers to learn from the past, if only
they were prepared to look for them.
The penultimate panel was on the theme of ‘Policing women in the 20th century’. The first
couple of papers examined two of the sensational cases that captured the headlines in the
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twentieth century: Huw F Clayton of Aberystwyth University spoke on ‘The causes, course and
effects of the interrogation of Miss Irene Savidge at Scotland Yard on 15 th May 1928’ and Dr
Lizzie Seal of the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff gave a paper entitled ‘Public reactions to
the case of Mary Wilson, the “widow of Windy Nook”’. Mrs Wilson was convicted of murder after
the passage of the 1957 Homicide Act, but was reprieved from the death sentence by the Home
Secretary, RA Butler. Miss Savidge’s allegations concerning her interrogation by a Metropolitan
police detective became a cause celebre for supporters of women police in the 1920s. Finally, in
this panel, Helen Barnard of Greenwich University gave a paper on ‘Disciplining women in the
Metropolitan Police 1919-45’ which assessed to what extent errant policewomen, like their male
counterparts, could be seen as merely a few ‘rotten apples’.
Dr Katherine Watson (Oxford Brooks) and Denise Guthrie (Essex University) closed the
study day with contributions respectively on ‘Women, violence and the criminal law in Georgian
Wales’ and ‘Sex, civilisation and the punishment of women in England, 1750-1868’. After several
papers on the 20th century their work provided some useful points of comparison and a welcome
longer-term perspective. Throughout the day participants had a chance to reflect on the
similarities and differences between the legal treatment of women in England, Wales and Ireland,
and on issues concerning both criminal and civil law. It was particularly gratifying to have so
many excellent papers presenting exciting new research by postgraduate students, suggesting
that the future of women’s history is in good hands.
Dr Anne Logan
University of Kent
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Courses
MA by Research in Modern British Women's History
at London Metropolitan University
An exciting course, taught by expert researchers in the field of women's history, is run in
collaboration with the Women's Library, and draws on unrivalled collections of primary and
secondary collections.
The MA is comprised of a dissertation and three taught core modules: Nineteenth Century
Women, Researching Women's History, Twentieth Century Women.
The modules taken alone, without the dissertation, comprise a post-graduate certificate.
There is flexibility to study in either full-time or part-time (evening) mode.
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Full-time students may be eligible for a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council..
For a postgraduate prospectus, please contact the Admissions Office: 020
7133 4202; email: admissions@londonmet.ac.uk
For informal enquiries, please contact the course leader Dr Lucy Bland
l.bland@londonmet.ac.uk
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Publications and Offers
Women Against The Vote
% Discount
To mark the centenary of The Women's National Anti-Suffrage League (founded on the 21st July
1908) Oxford University Press would like to offer you a special discount on:
Women Against the Vote
Female Anti-Suffragism in Britain
Julia Bush
Normal Retail Price: £35.00
Discounted price: £28.00
For more information on this offer go to:
http://www.oup.co.uk/sale/webwhn08/
20% discount valid until 31 August 2008 and only if you order online from OUP
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Brilliant Women
.
The National Portrait Gallery currently has an exhibition called Brilliant Women: 18th Century
Bluestockings, which looks at the remarkable group of women formed the Bluestocking Salon.
To tie in with this exhibition, they have produced a hardback book of the same name (see below).
Vicki Jones, the Sales and Marketing Assistant has been in touch and indicated that a members
discount might be available if there is any interest.
Contact her on: National Portrait Gallery St Martin's Place London WC2H OHE
Direct T 020 7321 6612 F 020 7306 0056 www.npg.org.uk
Click here to register for the Gallery's e-newsletter
Brilliant Women
18th-Century Bluestockings
Elizabeth Eger and Lucy Peltz
From Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Germaine Greer, influential women have lamented their lack
of foremothers. But why has the remarkable group of creative and intellectual women who
flourished in eighteenth-century Britain been overlooked? Publicly celebrated in their time, these
women’s achievements in the worlds of art, literature and even political thought came to
symbolize the progress of a civilized and commercial nation.
This book introduces us to the ‘Bluestocking’ salon, where like-minded men and women met from
the 1750s onwards to debate contemporary ideas and promote the life of the mind. Including the
literary critic Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), classicist Elizabeth Carter (1717–1806), novelist
Fanny Burney (1752–1840) and artist Angelica Kauffman, these creative women formed an
important network of intellectuals who were involved in a range of cultural activities from writing
novels and poetry to Shakespearean criticism and portrait painting. The authors explore the
identity of these brilliant bluestocking women and show how they used myth and tradition to
strengthen their public image. For example, the allegory of the Muses appealed to women, who
saw the benefits of sociability, creative exchange and collaboration.
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At the end of the eighteenth century, in the tumult of the American and French revolutions, the
political landscape changed, introducing new limits on women’s intellectual and personal liberties.
The lives of three key figures illustrate the changing climate of opinion: the radical historian
Catharine Macaulay (1731–91) and egalitarian author Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97) fell from
grace with charges of moral and sexual license, while the evangelical Hannah More (1745–
1833) became the acceptable face of bluestocking culture. Once again, openly intelligent women
were viewed with suspicion and ‘bluestocking’, so recently a mark of distinction, became a term of
abuse and ridicule.
With portraits, prints, caricatures, personal artefacts and a fascinating narrative, the authors
reveal the extraordinary vigour of the bluestockings and their culture.
Published to accompany an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London from 13 March to
15 June 2008.
Authors
Elizabeth Eger teaches English Literature at King’s College London. Her previous publications
include critical editions of Elizabeth Montagu’s Essay on Shakespeare and Maria Edgeworth’s
children’s literature; and as co-editor, Women, Writing and the Public Sphere, 1700-1830 and
Luxury in the Eighteenth Century: Debates, Desires and Delectable Goods.
Lucy Peltz is 18th Century Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Her
recent work includes curating the refurbishment of the Regency galleries and
Making Faces – Eighteenth-Century Style, new permanent displays at Beningbrough Hall, North
Yorkshire
Specification ISBN 978 1 85514 389 0
240mm x 185mm, 160 pages Over 70 illustrations
…………………………………………..
Urban History News
The latest edition of Urban History News is now online at
http://www.le.ac.uk/urbanhist/news/uhn/aug08.html
UHN goes online on or around the 12th of each month – throughout the year. We will advertise,
free of charge, any news which may be of interest to the Urban History community: this covers
not only calls for papers, conferences, workshops and seminars but also publications, situations
vacant, fellowships etc. The only stipulation is that you let us have your notices in good time!
(and please remember to update us when your call for papers turns into a conference
programme)
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The address for news items for the diary (www.le.ac.uk/urbanhist/news/conferences.html) or the
newsletter is uhn@le.ac.uk – and if free advertising isn’t enough of an incentive…
In the past 12 months there have been over 800,000 hits on the CUH website at www.le.ac.uk/ur
or www.le.ac.uk/urbanhist (an average of over 2000 a day). The busiest day was 18 June 2008
with 6,525 requests, with visitors from more than 50 countries.
On behalf of Urban History News
Stephanie Maksimovic
Web Support
Centre for Urban History
University of Leicester
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------WHN Regional and International Contacts
Midlands WHN
The Midlands WHN, based at the University of Worcester, runs a varied programme of activities
within the region. For further information about Midlands WHN please email Sue Johnson
s.johnson@worc.ac.uk, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Worcester,
Henwick Grove, Worcester WR2 6AJ.
Northern Women's History Network
The Northern WHN will be runs a programme of activities, including day conferences and
postgraduate days. For information about the activities of the Northern Women's History Network
please contact Dr Maureen M. Meikle, Senior Lecturer in History, School of Arts, Design, Media &
Culture, University of Sunderland, Priestman Building, Green Terrace, Sunderland SR1 3PZ.
Tel: 0191-515 2633 Fax: 0191 515 2038 Email: maureen.meikle@sunderland.ac.uk
West of England and South West WHN
The West of England and South West Women's History Network has three institutional bases.
These are the University of the West of England, the University of Exeter and the University of
Glamorgan. Every year in each part of the region we hold study days in which postgraduates and
new researchers are invited to give work-in-progress papers. The annual conference is held in
June and rotates between the three institutions.
Our annual subscription in £10 full waged and £5 students/low waged. We offer post graduate
bursaries for expenses to local conferences and travel to archives etc . Visit our website at
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http://humanities.uwe.ac.uk/swhisnet/swhisnet.htm.
For further information contact Fiona Reid or Kath Holden email
Fiona.Reid@uwe.ac.uk or Katherine.Holden@uwe.ac.uk
…………………………………………..
Women's History Scotland
Women's History Scotland promotes study and research in women's and gender history,
particularly for those working in Scotland or working on Scottish themes. It has a commitment to
history at all levels and aims to provide a network of information and support to all. Activities
include regular meetings, day conferences, research interests listings, collaborative publications,
dedicated journal issues, newsletter and other initiatives and events.
Annual membership costs £10/£5 (renewable each January). Please visit our web site
at http://www.womenshistoryscotland.org/
For further information please contact Yvonne Brown, email Y.Brown@gcal.ac.uk
…………………………………………..
The International Federation for Research in Women's History
The International Federation for Research in Women's History (IFRWH) was founded in
1987 to encourage and co-ordinate research in all aspects of women's history at the international
level, by promoting the exchange of information, publication and arranging conferences.
Membership is primarily by affiliation of national committees. For more information, please visit
the IFRWH web. Our current representative for the IFRWH is June Purvis, University of
Portsmouth, email: IFRWH@womenshistorynetwork.org
IFRWH publishes regular newsletters: Current Issue: Winter 2007
Archive: Fall 2002 Summer 2003 Fall 2003 Spring 2004 Fall/Winter 2004/5 Spring 2005
Winter 2005 Summer 2006 December 2006
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit your WHN Web Page: womenshistorynetwork.org.
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