Women, Power and Money

Organisers: Richard Allard-Meldrum, Clare Rowan, Victoria Vening Richards

11 June 2026, The University Of Warwick, The Oculus Building, OC1.04

Numismatic objects (coins, notes, tokens, medals, alternative currencies) have historically offered women an opportunity to represent themselves and their positions, as well as to make comment on contemporary concerns. Female rulers issued currencies and used these to represent themselves and their power in different ways, while the female form might be used to represent ideals, geographic regions or other societal virtues as a personification. Women from different walks of life have created paranumismatica (tokens, medals) for different purposes: to serve as small change in their business dealings, to commemorate benefactions or to consolidate friendships or other relationships. Women have also played a role in the design and production of currencies: it was a female photographer, Dorothy Wilding, for example, who photographed Queen Elizabeth for her numismatic portrait in 1953. Currency might also be employed in protest and rebellion, carrying slogans connected to women’s movements and societal change, embodied in the ‘Votes for Women’ pennies of the nineteenth century. We should also consider the role of women and the gendered implications within the modern transformation from physical notes and coinage to electronic tokens and cashless payment methods. This conference seeks to highlight frequently overlooked aspects of women’s history, and to refine our understanding of how numismatic objects can be best utilised to uncover diverse female experiences.

You can register to attend the conference here.

Programme

We wish to thank the Humanities Research Centre, The University of Warwick, for its financial support.