From the rubble women of the immediate postwar period to the working mothers of today, women’s work – paid and unpaid - has been the object of intense political significance and public scrutiny. In popular and cultural representations, women’s work has been portrayed as heroic, disruptive, everyday, and abnormal.

A new Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project, ‘Women, Work and Value in Europe, 1945-2015’ has been set up by Dr Josie McLellan of the Department of History, which seeks to explore the way in which women’s work has been valued in postwar Europe.

The research will investigate several key questions about the value of women’s work, including different types of work undertaken by women and how this work is perceived both by women and those around them. 

The network aims to engage with a range of people through Twitter and by hosting public talks and events.

The first events will be hosted by the University of Bristol Friday 7 and Saturday 8 March. The weekend will open with a public panel discussion at the Watershed, entitled Women and the Politics of Work. The following day there will be an all day workshop, Women, Work and Value: Definitions, Approaches, Conceptual Frameworks.

Both events are free but booking is required in advance.  Further thematic workshops and events will take place in Florence, Budapest and Glasgow throughout 2014 and 2015.

Register for the events at http://www.bris.ac.uk/arts/research/women-work/events/ and follow the network on twitter @WomenWorkValue to contribute to the debate.