2026 Women’s and Gender History Symposium
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Theme: Gender & Labor
Date: March 5-7, 2026
Format: Hybrid (Zoom and in-person at University of Illinois)
Submissions and Contact: WGHS Organizing Committee, [email protected]
https://wghistory.web.illinois.edu/
Submission Deadline: December 12, 2025, at 5pm CST
The 24th annual Women’s and Gender History Symposium at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign seeks graduate student paper presentations of 10-12 minutes that focus on the relationship between gender, sexuality, and labor throughout history. Submissions need not be confined to the discipline of history or its methods. Alternative presentations (e.g. film, poetry, art) are welcome so long as they fit within the symposium’s format. First-time presenters and MA students are warmly welcomed.
Across time and space, what it means to do labor has been shaped by social factors like gender, sexuality, race, class, and (dis)ability. Similarly, labor has always impacted the way that people perform and embody gender throughout the world. This interdisciplinary research symposium invites researchers focusing on a wide range of chronological periods and geographic regions to present research related to the relationship between gender and labor, including (but not limited to) the following topics:
- Labor Organizing, Unions, & Activism
- Migrant Labor
- Unfree Labor & Enslavement
- Emotional & Invisible Labor
- Gendered Labor in the Pre-Modern World
- Apprenticeship
- Reproductive Labor & Childbirth
- Sex Work
- Prostitution
- Queering the History of Labor
This year’s keynote speakers are Dr. Arunima Datta (History, University of North Texas) and Dr. Erik McDuffie (History, University of Illinois). Dr. Datta’s work focuses on labor, women’s history, food, and emotions in Britain and the British Empire. Dr. McDuffie’s work focuses on black feminism, black queer theory, black radicalism, urban history, and black masculinity in the American Midwest and the broader African diaspora.
A keynote address followed by a reception will open the symposium on the evening of March 5, 2026. Panels will take place the afternoon of March 6 followed by a second keynote address and a reception in the evening. Panels will resume in the morning and afternoon of March 7. While the keynote speakers will present in-person at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the symposium will offer a hybrid format via Zoom for panelists who wish to participate and attend remotely.
Please submit proposals (200-300 words in length) together with a CV to [email protected] by December 12, 2025 at 5pm CST.