Just a quick update to note that the WHAI AGM for 2023 will take place on Thursday 7 December at 7pm on Zoom. All members are welcome.  For our online winter gathering, we will follow the AGM at 7.30pm with a poetry reading by Julie Morrissey. Julie will talk about her practice of writing poetry based on Irish women’s history and will read a few of her poems. We are very much looking forward to this event! This is open to non-members as well as members.  You can sign up for the event here to receive the Zoom link.  Julie Morrissy was the first Poet ..read more

We are delighted to announce that our 2024 conference will be held at Queen’s University Belfast on 26-27 April 2024. This year’s broad theme is ‘Irish women and relationships from medieval to modern history’. Abstracts of between 250-300 words and a short biography should be sent to whaiconference2024@gmail.com on or before 12 January 2024 ..read more

whai-2023-cfp-finalDownload We are delighted to announce that our 2023 conference will be held at University College Cork on 26-27 May 2023. This year’s broad theme is ‘Reform, Repeal, and Repression: Irish Women and the State’. Abstracts of between 250-300 words and a short bio should be sent to whaiconf23@gmail.com on or before Friday 27 January 2023 ..read more

Submissions for the 2022 Anna Parnell Travel Grant and MacCurtain/Cullen Essay Prize are now being accepted.  The Anna Parnell Travel grant was established in 2011 to promote research among early stage scholars in Irishwomen’s and Gender History. Due to limitations placed on travel due to Covid-19, it has been decided to award three smaller grants this year. Grants of up to €170 will be available. These can be used to cover the costs of acquiring scanned/digitised copies of archival material or other online research costs as an alternative to travel costs The MacCurtain/Cullen P ..read more

We are delighted to announce that the 2022 WHAI conference will be a virtual event held on 1-2 April and 8-9 April 2022, jointly hosted by the University of Limerick and Mary Immaculate College. The broad theme for this year’s conference is ‘Irish women’s and gendered networks and communities from the medieval to the early modern period’. Please submit abstracts of 250-300 words and a short bio to WHAI2022conference@gmail.com on or before 17 December 2021. Panel proposals are also welcome ..read more

Our postgraduate representatives have organised an exciting thesis-in-three and poster display event that will be held online on November 26th. If interested in participating in either or both events, please send your name, thesis title, and contact info to WHAIPGR@gmail.com ..read more

WHAI president, Professor Diane Urquhart of Queen’s University Belfast has been awarded the American Conference of Irish Studies (ACIS) James S. Donnelly, Sr. Prize for Books on History and Social Sciences for Irish Divorce: A History (Cambridge University Press, 2020). The ACIS judging panel deemed Irish Divorce as ‘gender, legal, and social history of the highest caliber.’ Be sure to check out the review of Irish Divorce: A History in our Book Reviews section ..read more

Submissions for the 2021 Anna Parnell Travel Grant and MacCurtain/Cullen Essay Prize are now being accepted. The Anna Parnell Travel grant was established in 2011 to promote research among early stage scholars in Irishwomen’s and Gender History. Due to limitations placed on travel during 2021 due to Covid-19, it has been decided to award three smaller grants this year. Grants of up to €170 will be available. These can be used to cover the costs of acquiring scanned/digitised copies of archival material or other online research costs as an alternative to travel costs The MacCurtain/Cullen ..read more

The 32nd Irish Conference of Historians took place in University College Cork from 26 – 28 April. The theme of this year’s conference ‘Sex, Sexuality andReproduction’ was one which was propitious and opportune as the country surged towards a momentous and historic referendum on the Repeal of the Eighth Amendment. As my taxi pulled up outside of UCC, the driver asked me what conference I was attending. When I told him the title I think he nearly blushed! “Oh!” was his response. What was particularly memorable about this conference was the wide range of themes. Over the three dayperiod, topics f ..read more

The Women’s History Association of Ireland contributed towards my participation at the 32ndIrish Conference of Historians at University College Cork, April 26th-28th2018. This year’s conference theme was, ‘Sex, Sexuality and Reproduction: Historical Perspectives’. The conference included a broad range of panels covering topic’s such as: ‘eugenics and feminism’, ‘maternal bodies’ ‘infanticide, foundling hospital and social purity work’, ‘pornography’, ‘sex advice’, and ‘LGBT Irish history’, amongst many others. Renowned scholars in the field of sexuality and feminism: Ruth Mazo Karras, Sheila R ..read more