A multidisciplinary conference hosted jointly by Parliament’s UK Vote 100 Project, the History of Parliament Trust and the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Westminster
This major international conference marks the centenary of the 1918 Parliament(Qualification of Women) Act, which allowed women in the United Kingdom to stand for election to Parliament. Passed a few months after the partial enfranchisement of women, the legislation marked a further pivotal moment in women’s participation in the political process.
Over the course of two days, the conference will reflect on the experiences of women MPs and Parliamentary candidates over the last one hundred years, their contributions and the challenges they faced. Keynote speakers will include Professor Krista Cowman and Dr Jacqui Turner.
Proposals for individual papers of 20 minutes are invited, and panel proposals of three twenty-minute papers are also welcomed. Papers may relate to one or more of the following themes, though this is by no means an exhaustive list. We also encourage papers which offer comparisons with the UK context:
- Campaigns to allow women to stand as Parliamentary candidates and the passage of the Qualification of Women Act
- Individual women MPs and their experiences
- Women MPs and their parties
- Parliamentary campaigns by women candidates (whether successful or not)
- Reactions to women in Parliament
- The gendered culture and architecture of Parliament
- The issues of under-representation of women in Parliament
- Gender quotas, women-only shortlists and other strategies
- Women’s lives after serving as MPs
It is anticipated that selected papers from the conference will form a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal. If you are interested in having your paper considered for this, please indicate this with the submission of your abstract.
Please send abstracts of c.250 words and biographies of not more than 100 words to Emma Peplow at EPeplow@histparl.ac.uk by 31st January 2018. Acceptance of papers for the conference will be confirmed by 29th March 2018.
Any queries may also be sent to the email address above.
For details see https://acenturyofwomenmpsconference.wordpress.com/