HST61020 Women and Power 2022-23

30 credits, Semester two
Module leaders 2022-23: Sihong Lin and Julie Gottlieb

Listed on all history MA programmes. 

Module summary

This module explores the roles women have played within and through structures and discourses of power: as wielders of office, as victims of persecution, and as agents of cultural change. 

The module uses case studies from particular historical contexts - potentially ranging from the medieval to the modern - to engage with the methodological challenge of identifying female agency in the historical record. 

It draws on a range of theoretical approaches and on written and material forms of evidence to enable you to reach your own insights.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, you will be able to:

Assessment methods

Assessment type - % of final mark

You will complete a 4000 word essay on a topic related to one of the module's key themes. You will define your own essay topic in discussion with your tutor.

You will also complete an engagement and participation exercise based on the learning activities and environment for the module. This task will be set by the module leader but may include activities such as presentations, reflective seminar diaries, contributions to discussion forums or collaborative documents.

Additional learning and teaching information

Teaching and indicative seminar plan 2022-23:


The module will be taught in ten, two-hour classes. You will also have individual tutorial contact with the module tutors in order to discuss your assessment for this module.


Below are examples of the kinds of focus each seminar may take; those included each year will vary according to the particular case studies chosen. This year weeks 2-5 will focus on how to uncover women’s agency from different genres of pre-modern sources via a series of case studies, such as by considering women who were the subjects of political polemics and women who themselves wrote political narratives. The approaches we examine will then be discussed in relation to methodologies for studying women in the modern period in Week 6. Seminars 7-10 will then turn to a more focused analysis of women in British political history and the gendering of British political institutions.



Selected Reading