Professor Jane Whittle

Jane Whittle is Professor of Economic and Social History, with expertise in the history of work and gender in preindustrial Europe. Her research explores work/labour, gender, economic development, household economies, material culture and consumption, c.1300-1750 (late medieval and early modern).

Jane Whittle held a European Research Council Advanced Grant ‘FORMSofLABOUR’ 2019-24, presented the Economic History Society's annual Tawney Lecture in 2023, is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and a former chair of the British Agricultural History Society.

Her research is characterised by the combination of archival work using manuscript documents and attention to social-science theory. She makes intensive use of a wide range of historical documents analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively, addressing interdisciplinary debates such as the gendering of work and women’s role in the economy, economic development, and meanings of consumption and material culture. Although her archival research uses English sources, it is placed in the comparative context of Western Europe, and informed by comparisons with other societies and economies.