Research
Women of York
A humanities and tourism project at York St John University.
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The project aims to raise awareness of the crucial role women have played in our city's development and to widen access to women's history in York's many tourism and heritage sites.
Existing work includes the hugely successful 3-day Beyond the Vote Festival in 2018 (which attracted over 500 participants), a women's history of York map, and numerous outreach events, working with the Women's Equality Party, York Explore, BBC Radio York and the Yorkshire Film Archive, in recent years. The project is a partnership between the School of Humanities and York Business School at York St John University.
Project leads:
Film: The Women of York
In 2024-2025, we worked closely with the Yorkshire Film Archive (YFA) to produce a short film about the history of women's everyday life in York, based on archival footage from the YFA.
The aim of the film is to present the diverse spaces in York where women lived, gathered, worked, played, worshipped, and more, while taking into account the challenges that they faced in their day-to-day lives, from international conflicts to experiences of poverty and displacement. We hope that the film can start a conversation about women's history in York, and make viewers think about the many ways, and particularly the many everyday actions, through which women made the city and its history.
Watch the trailer below or on YouTube.
Our Women's History in York Map
In 2016, the History and English Literature departments at York St John University produced a Women's History in York Map. This self-guided map and tour was produced to encourage visitors and residents of York to consider the diverse women's history of the city.
Download: Women's History in York Map (PDF, 2 MB)
Working with communities: Mansion House x HERSTORY.YORK
In 2025, we teamed up with local volunteer group HERSTORY.YORK for a women's history exhibition at Mansion House. We contributed to the design of boards to be displayed on the façade of the building during the renovation works, which trace the significant contribution that women have made from 1725 (when the Mansion House was built) to date. The exhibition will be launched by the Lord Mayor of York to mark York's International Women's Week.
Watch this space for more information on this soon.
Want to find out more or get involved?
If you want to join the project's mailing list to get involved or to be kept informed of the next phase of the research project, please email us at e.duche@yorksj.ac.uk.
We are happy to deliver talks on the project and to contribute to community initiatives, so please do reach out if you would like to work with us.
