Our research

Through blogs, podcasts, journals and more, explore world leading research from across the Faculty of Arts and Humanities which has sought to recognise the contributions of women and lead the way towards a world where gender equality is the norm.

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Discovering Ann Radcliffe

Ann Radcliffe was one of the highest paid authors of the 18th century, so why don’t we know about her today? Join staff and students from the School of English as we explore who Ann Radcliffe was.

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Two girls playing football in the Peace Gardens, Sheffield.

Women’s Football and the History of it

Did you know that Women’s football is likely to have existed just as long as men’s? While women’s football is on the up in 2023, historically there have been many challenges. Elizabeth Dann explores.

Women’s Football in England

Three people sat on the bonnet of an old car

Challenging preconceptions of Muslim women

Gender equality is making the histories of Muslim women known so that they may challenge preconceptions in the present and open possibilities for the future. Professor Siobhan Lambert-Hurley is dedicated to telling these women's histories.

Challenging preconceptions of Muslim women

Queens of the Air

Amy Stewart, a PhD student with the School of English, introduces some of the 19th century female aerialists and explores how they broke down barriers and rewrote the rules when it came to gender stereotypes and sexist beliefs.

Remarkable female aerialists who rewrote the rules

No Love in War

Dr Valerie Hobbs from the School of English speaks about her upcoming book with Mayfly Books, No Love in War: A Story of Christian Nationalism.

Read Valerie's blog

An old black and white line drawing of a building.

Living a Life of Books': British Women and 'Modern Studies' in the Inter-War

Monograph: A socio-cultural and political examination of working class women and liberating opportunity by way of modern languages' degree programmes in red-brick provincial universities in the inter-war years.

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A black and white photo of four women from the Antebellum South

Mothers’ Milk: Slavery, Wet-Nursing, and Black and White Women in the Antebellum South

Wet nursing is a uniquely gendered kind of exploitation, and under slavery it represented the point at which the exploitation of enslaved women as workers and as reproducers literally intersected. Dr Rosie Knight explores Slavery, Wet-Nursing, and Black and White Women in the Antebellum South.

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Venus sits on bed with her left foot on a tortoise — From Alciato, Emblematum Libri (Lyon, 1556), courtesy of University of Glasgow Archives & Special Collections: SM 36, folio L2v

Desperately seeking Susan: Looking for women’s voices in early modern dialogue

Wives should be ‘chaste and shamefast, modest and silent, godly and discreet’ - Elijahu Wilcocks’, 1595. Professor Cathy Shrank explores the association in early modern Europe between female speech and female unruliness.

Read Professor Cathy Shrank's blog

A close up photograph of hands playing the violin.

Women in classical music - Abuses of power within the classical music industry

TAR, the Oscar nominated film, aims to ask if gender matters when it comes to power. How does our judgement change when an abuser is female? What is the place of identity politics in art? Can art be separated from the artist? Dr Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey explores.

Tár: busting the myths the film perpetuates of the all-powerful maestro

An old photograph of Shirley Temple as a child

International cinema and the girl

From the precocious charms of Shirley Temple to the box-office behemoth Frozen and its two young female leads, Anna and Elsa, the girl has long been a figure of fascination for cinema. International Cinema and the Girl, by Professor Kate Taylor Jones, explores the female subject in international cinema.

Find out more about the book

Women's Movement 100: Angels of the North

Dancer and choreographer Freddie Garland joins forces with Professor Julie Gottlieb, Department of History, and Professor Claudia Mazza from the University’s INSIGNEO institute, to create a filmed performance about women’s suffrage, emancipation and health.

Watch now on the Player

Great Latin American Women

Professor Lauren Rea’s work epitomises the spirit of Women’s History Month as she is pushing for a change to primary school education across Latin America. One of the most unequal regions of the world now has access to resources celebrating Latin American women.

Tackling gender inequality in Latin America

Jewish and Christian Women in the Ancient Mediterranean

The first textbook to comprehensively address women's lives in ancient Judaism and Christianity. Dr Meredith Warren, with her co-authors, offer explorations into topics such as women’s religion, including leadership, domestic ritual, women as readers and writers of scripture, and as innovators in their traditions.

More information about the textbook

A photo of skeleton SK3870 on site at the excavations at York Barbican. Credit: On Site Archaeology.

The All Saints Anchoress?

The rare and unusual life of an anchoress, a woman who devoted her life to prayer while living in seclusion, has been unearthed by the University of Sheffield and Oxford Archaeology, thanks to a skeletal collection now held at the University.

Mysterious skeleton revealed to be that of unusual Lady Anchoress

David Livingstone podcast - Tunya Investigates! Episode 3 - Gender Inequality

In this podcast episode, Dr Kate Simpson discusses the women in David Livingstone’s life, including his wife Mary and his cook Halima. As well as some of the difficulties of researching women's history and what Kate is looking forward to about the new museum exhibition.

Listen to the podcast

Two people taking part in a Japanese wedding.

Women's Hour - Japan's under 30 rejecting marriage

Men and women under the age of 35 are rejecting marriage in Japan, raising major concerns for the Japanese government. Dr Jennifer Coates discusses the new statistics on Woman's Hour. Item starts at 46:15.

Listen now on Woman's Hour

Women and folk music

Dr Fay Hield, with the University of Sheffield's Department of Music, discusses some of the most iconic women who collected folk music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Item starts 13:00 minutes.

Listen now on BBC Sounds

A stack of books, a fork wrapped in a tape measure and a candle.

Three poems about absence: a creative response to Women’s History Month - A J Moore

AJ Moore’s creative work comprises sequences of poems about domestic objects which aim to create an alternative archive through which the personal becomes an expression of the political including issues of female identity and absence within them.

Three poems about absence

A drawing of David Livingstone reading a book

Mrs Livingstone, I presume? Museum to feature crucial role of explorer’s wife

The cliché runs that behind every great man stands a great woman. In David Livingstone’s case, the reputation of his fearless wife, Mary Moffat, actually went before him. Dr Kate Simpson discusses the revamped gallery to reveal the importance – and presence – of Mary Moffat in missionary’s life and travels.

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