Selina Todd (born 1975) is an English historian and writer. From 2015, she has been Professor of Modern History at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. Todd's research focuses on the history of the working-class, women and feminism in modern Britain. From 2017 to 2022, Todd was president of the

Socialist Educational Association The Socialist Educational Association (SEA) is a socialist educational organisation in the United Kingdom. It is affiliated to the Labour Party as a socialist society. It assists in the development of and monitors educational policies of the ...

Early life

Selina Todd was born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

in 1975."Selina Todd (History 1997)"
''Development and Alumni Relations, University of Sussex''. As archived at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

o
27 August 2019
After schooling at a state comprehensive, she completed her undergraduate degree in history at

Warwick University The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of a ...

. She took a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree and then a

doctor of philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

degree in history at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

Career

After holding a Scouloudi Fellowship and

Economic and Social Research Council The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), formerly the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) funded by the UK government. ESRC provides fundi ...

Post-doctoral Fellowship at the

Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate Hou ...

,"Dr Selina Todd"
, ''The University of Manchester''. Retrieved 22 November 2016. Todd was elected to the Ottilie Hancock

Research Fellowship A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for list of academic ranks, academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under ...

in History at

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college at Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status by the un ...

, in 2004. The following year, she was appointed a lecturer at Warwick University, and in 2007 took a lectureship in modern British history at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

. In 2010, she was appointed a Fellow at

St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College (full name = Principal and Council of St. Hilda's College, Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon saint Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a ...

, and a lecturer in history at the

. In 2015, she was awarded the title of Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford. She was vice-principal of St Hilda's College between 2014 and 2017."Academic Staff – Dr Selina Todd"
, ''St Hilda's College, Oxford''. Retrieved 22 November 2016. She has held several editorial roles, including serving on the Board of the historical journal '' Past and Present''. Her biography of

Shelagh Delaney Shelagh Delaney FRSL (; 25 November 1938 – 20 November 2011) was an English dramatist and screenwriter. Her debut work, '' A Taste of Honey'' (1958), has been described by Michael Patterson as "probably the most performed play by a post-war B ...

, ''Tastes of Honey'' was published in 2019. From 2017 to 2022, Todd was president of the

. As of September 2020, Todd is a lead researcher at the Oxford Martin Programme on Women's Equality and Inequality.

Views on transgender topics

Todd and over 30 other academics signed a public letter sent to ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' published on 16 June 2019 which claimed that universities paying for

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

diversity training by Stonewall stifled academic debate because "tendentious and anti-scientific claims are presented . . . as objective fact". In January 2020, Todd revealed that she had been warned of threats against her on social media; after an investigation at her request, Oxford University arranged security guards to accompany her to lectures. Todd received threats from trans rights activists for making public her views on the need to protect female single-sex spaces - such as women's refuges and rape crisis centres - which they deemed

transphobic Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender or transsexual people, or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to social ...

. She said: "In the world today democracy is under threat and therefore we all have to defend the right of people to have freedom of speech and freedom of debate." In February 2020, Todd was

no platform No Platform, in the UK, is a form of student boycott where a person or organisation is denied a platform to speak. The British National Union of Students (NUS) established its No Platform policy in April 1974. Like other No Platform policies, it ...

ed at a celebration in Oxford, which she had helped organise, of the 50th anniversary of the

National Women's Liberation Conference The National Women's Liberation Conference (or National Women's Liberation Movement Conference) was a United Kingdom initiative organised to bring together activists in the Women's Liberation Movement with the aim of developing a shared political ...

of 1970. An invitation to speak, which had been accepted by Todd, was withdrawn on the eve of the event. When another event speaker, Lola Olufemi, withdrew in protest at Todd's association with the campaign group

Woman's Place UK Woman's Place UK (WPUK) was a British political advocacy group founded in 2017. The group was opposed to gender self-identification for transgender people in the UK, and has advocated restricting access to women-only spaces on the basis of "se ...

, which Olufemi accused of transphobia, Todd wrote in response: "I refute the allegation that I am transphobic, and I am disappointed that the organisers have refused to uphold our right to discuss women's rights – one that the original organisers had to fight hard for." In November 2021, Todd wrote to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' to criticise the

Athena Swan Athena SWAN (Scientific Women's Academic Network) is an equality charter mark framework and accreditation scheme established and managed by the UK Equality Challenge Unit (now part of Advance HE) in 2005 that recognises and celebrates good pra ...

scheme provided by the educational charity

Advance HE Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) is a British charity and professional membership scheme promoting excellence in higher education. It advocates evidence-based teaching methods and awards fellowships as professional recogniti ...

as promoting a "controversial view of sex and gender".

Select bibliography

Todd's research focuses on the history of the working-class, gender and feminism in modern Britain. Her 2005 book ''Young Women, Work and Family in England 1918–1950'' won the Women's History Network Annual Book Prize.
"Poverty and aspiration: young women's entry into employment"
''

Twentieth Century British History ''Modern British History'' is a peer reviewed academic journal of the history of Britain in the twentieth century. It is published by Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. ...

'', vol. 15, no. 2 (2004), pp. 119–142. *''Young Women, Work, and Family in England 1918–1950'' (Oxford:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2005).
"Breadwinners and dependants: Working-class young people in England, 1918–1955"
''

International Review of Social History The ''International Review of Social History'' (IRSH) is a scholarly journal founded, in its current format, in 1956, by the International Institute of Social History (IISH). The current academic journal revived an earlier publication by the same ...

'', vol. 52, no. 1 (2007), pp. 57–87.
"Affluence, class and Crown Street: Reinvestigating the post-war working class"
'' Contemporary British History'', vol. 22, no. 4 (2008), pp. 501–518.
"Domestic Service and Class Relations in Britain, 1900–1950"
'' Past & Present'', vol. 203, no. 1 (2009), pp. 181–204. *(Co-authored with Hilary Young
"Baby-boomers to 'beanstalkers': Making the modern teenager in post-war Britain"
'' Cultural and Social History'', vol. 9, no. 3 (2012), pp. 451–467.
"People Matter"
''

History Workshop Journal The ''History Workshop Journal'' is a British academic history journal published by Oxford University Press. ''History Workshop'' was founded in 1976 by Raphael Samuel and others involved in the History Workshop movement. Originally sub-titled " ...

'', vol. 76 (2013), pp. 259–265.
"Family, welfare and social work in post-war England, c.1948–c.1970"
''

The English Historical Review ''The English Historical Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1886 and published by Oxford University Press (formerly by Longman). It publishes articles on all aspects of history – British, European, a ...

'', vol. 129, no. 537 (2014), pp. 362–387.
"Class, experience and Britain's twentieth century"
''

Social History Social history, often called history from below, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. Historians who write social history are called social historians. Social history came to prominence in the 1960s, spreading f ...

'', vol. 39, no. 4 (2014), pp. 489–508. *''The People: the Rise and Fall of the Working Class 1910–2010'' (London: John Murray, 2014). *''Tastes of Honey: the making of

and a Cultural Revolution'' (London:

Chatto & Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his busines ...

, 2019). * ''Snakes and Ladders: the Great British Social Mobility Myth'' (London:

, 2021)

References

External links