Cluster for the History of Women's Education
Harnessing our well established expertise in histories of women's education
About us
The Cluster for the History of Women's Education (CHWE) is a Research and Knowledge Exchange group focussing on histories of women’s education. Established in 2002 as a research centre, in 2023 it became integrated in CREATE (Centre of Research for Educational Action and Theory Exchange), a new centre of excellence harnessing the University's wide range of expertise and research interests in the field of Education.
CHWE takes a broad cultural definition of education, one that transcends schooling to encompass learning and teaching (formal and informal) at any phase of the life-cycle, in any setting or historical period, including the recent past.
Aims
CHWE aims to foster a research environment that:
- examines the enactment and implications of colonialism, imperialism, internationalism, religion and class within transnational perspectives on gender;
- interrogates policy and practice related to women and girls in the past to inform research into gender and education today;
- disseminates research findings to a range of audiences
- engages with professional bodies, community groups and schools.
2024 Events
8 January: Dr Sue Anderson-Faithful: Christian values in the Anglican Girls' Friendly Society in the late 19th - early 20th century
Dr Sue Anderson-Faithful talked about the welfare initiatives undertaken by the Anglican Girls' Friendly Society in the latter years of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At a time before the National Health Service, pensions and unemployment befit, the young working women and girls who were members of the AGFS were supported financially through employments schemes and with respite care and holiday homes. The society made special provision for blind and disabled members and encouraged the able-bodied to fundraise and support incapacitated members with social events and companionship. This served as a practical way for members to demonstrate the AGFS' Christian values.
19 March: Dr Maureen Royce: Memories and impact - a personal perspective of the importance of Arthur Mee’s Children’s Encyclopaedia in the 1960s.
26 March: Dr Alistair Jones: Bahaism and Women’s Education: Alice Buckton and Annette Schepel’s Journeys with Abdu’l-Bahá 1910-1913.