The annual WHN conference is held each year in late August or early September. It aims to bring together anyone interested in women’s history; for many of our members the conference is the highlight of belonging to the network.
The Conference is a friendly and welcoming event, providing an exciting forum where people from the UK and beyond can meet and share research and interests.
Each year well-known historians give plenary speakers and we hold a reception at which the WHN prizes are awarded. There are some bursaries available to enable postgraduate students or those on a low income to attend.
To get a sense of what attending one of our conferences is like, take a look at the short film we had made of our 2017 Conference in Birmingham
Download the conference abstract for Conference 2020 – Submission of Abstract Template
Women’s History Network Annual Conference: ‘Women and Migration’, 1 and 2 September 2023
image via State Library of New South Wales The theme of this year’s conference is around the history of migration, and specifically the detrimental impact the gendered nature of it has had on women. The conference will seek to bring women’s voices to the forefront, and examine and highlight their migratory experiences, both nationally and […]
Women’s History Network Annual Conference: ‘Addressing the Nation’ 2 & 3 September 2022
Women’s History Network Annual Conference: ‘Addressing the Nation’ 2 & 3 September 2022 (Online via Zoom, Free to attend) Autumn 2022 marks the centenary of the BBC. From almost the very start, women worked in many capacities including behind the scenes, making programmes and speaking on air. This conference will explore how women across the […]
Women’s History Network Book Prize 2021: Chair’s Report
This year eight books were submitted for the Women’s History Network book prize. It was a wonderful set of entries: every book was of a high academic standard, every book was well researched, every book made an original contribution to women’s history. The judges – myself Paula Bartley, Prof Barbara Bush, Prof Krista Cowman, […]
Women’s History Network Annual Conference 2-4 September 2021 – Homes, Food and Farm
Women’s History Network Annual Conference 2 – 4 September 2021 Homes, Food and Farms *2nd- 4th September 2021 * This is now going to be an online conference. In recent years Women’s History has made a significant contribution to debates and explorations of histories of homes, families and domestic life. Women’s multiple and varied roles in the […]
2019 WHN Conference Report: ‘Professional Women: the public, the private, and the political’
Women’s History Network Annual Conference LSE Library 6-7 September 2019 In acknowledgement of the centenary of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act (SD(R)A), the Women’s History Network (WHN) held a two-day conference at the London School of Economics Library on Friday 6 – Saturday 7 September 2019 entitled ‘Professional Women: the public, the private, and the […]
2018 Conference – The Campaign for Women’s Suffrage : National and International Perspectives
In 2018 our conference was held beside the sea at the University of Portsmouth. There was a wonderful range of speakers from UK and beyond, some of the highlights included Barbara Caine from the University of Sydney discussing Feminist Autobiography and the Creation of the Self and Eric Franklin from the University of Basel, Switzerland […]
2017 Conference – Women and the Wider World
The University of Birmingham hosted the 2017 WHN conference, entitled ’Women and the Wider World’. For those delegates who arrived early enough on Thursday night, a heritage walking tour of campus was provided. For those arriving at the University Station a little later, a slow stroll to the accommodation offered a sample of the picturesque […]
2016 Conference – Women’s Material Cultures / Women’s Material Enviroments
On 16 and 17 September, Leeds Trinity University hosted the 25th annual Women’s History Network conference, consisting of two keynotes, two illustrated talks, and nineteen panels and a total of fifty-one papers. The papers and presentations explored innovative and diverse research, projects and collections about women’s material cultures and environments from the medieval period to […]
2015 Conference – Female Agency, activism and organization
This year’s Women’s History Network Conference on the theme of Female Agency, Activism and Organisation took place at the University of Kent in Canterbury. The conference drew in researchers from Australia to Canada, and from Italy to the UK, covering topics from science and medicine to religion and education, to name just a few. In […]