We are pleased to announce the annual WHN book prize, which awards £500 for an author’s first single-authored monograph in women’s or gender history. Entries close on 15 August 2025 for books published from 1 Jan 2023 to 31 December 2024. 2023…
Category: Blog and News
News items of interest to WHN Members
Beyond Formal and Informal: Giving Back Political Agency to Female Diplomats in Early Nineteenth Century Europe – Bart Mooibroek
When researching diplomatic challenges in early nineteenth century Europe, such as the Eastern Question or the Congress of Vienna, the subject matter can appear male dominated. The former refers to the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century,…
WHN Undergraduate Dissertation Prize 2024-2025
The Women’s History Network is offering one £250 prize for an undergraduate dissertation on any aspect of women’s or gender history (though with a strong focus on women) written during the 2024-2025 academic year. We welcome research on any period…
Women from Hackney’s History
The second volume of Women from Hackney’s History was published on International Women’s Day 2025, exactly four years after the first book appeared. Together covering 228 women who have strong links to today’s London Borough, they range in date from…
When Women Champion Women: The Female Team Behind ‘When Two of Us Meet’ Musical – Emily Simonian, Alena Kutumian and Rebecka Webb
Honouring Women’s History Through Musical Theatre In the world of musical theatre, where women are still underrepresented in leadership roles, When Two of Us Meet stands out as a project created, led, and supported by women. We are incredibly proud…
Uneven Progress: women, education, institutions and careers in the built environment
Women’s History Today: the Journal of the Women’s History Network is seeking expressions of interest for articles to be included in a Special Issue focused on tracing the education and career paths of women in the professions of the built…
Emotion and Space in the Mid-Victorian Women’s Suffrage Movement – Lucy McCormick
Separate Spheres The doctrine of the ‘separate spheres’ – women’s confinement in the home while men freely roamed the public world – is entrenched in popular imaginings of Victorian life. Historians have long debated the usefulness and accuracy of this…
Women and the Wild: women’s presence in the wild outdoors is controlled through myth and practice – Sarah Lonsdale
One of my most vivid memories from childhood, is of my mother reading the Nordic folktale ‘East of the Sun and West of the Moon’ to me. The tale, first collected in Norway in the mid-nineteenth century tells of a…
The Pre-History of Nursing: An Alternative View – Alannah Tomkins
My first exposure to the history of nursing was the Ladybird book Florence Nightingale, in the ‘Adventure from History’ series. Like many primary-school children before and since, I was beguiled by Nightingale’s dedication to her cause. The only depiction of…