I am a historian, editor and researcher, with expertise in Scottish gender, legal and social history and feminist legal studies. I am interested in women’s access to justice in the past and today, and I’m currently writing two books (mainly in my spare time): a monograph on women’s navigation of legal systems and property relationships in early modern Scotland, and a co-edited book with Professor Jane Mair on gender and civil justice in Scotland in historical and legal perspective.
I hold an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded PhD in History from the University of Glasgow (awarded 2020, as part of the UK-wide network ‘Women Negotiating the Boundaries of Justice: Britain and Ireland, c. 1100-c.1750‘), and have held funded postdoctoral positions at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London (funded by the Economic History Society) and the University of Glasgow (funded by the Economic and Social Research Council). I am currently an Editorial Fellow at History Workshop Online, a digital radical history magazine and sister publication of History Workshop Journal.
I am passionate about tackling issues surrounding gender inequality and women’s unequal access to civil and criminal justice in the UK and around the world. I believe that the justice system continues to fail women and girls in Scotland on a daily basis, and I’m dedicated to using my knowledge of historical injustices to enact meaningful change today. I currently work as a Parliamentary Researcher in the Scottish Parliament, advising on issues relating to women’s rights, gender-based violence, “inclusive” justice, and law reform.
I am currently a Steering Committee member of Women’s History Scotland and a council member of the Stair Society, Scotland’s leading legal history society. I was elected an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2022, and was awarded runner-up in the Royal Historical Society’s David Berry Prize in 2021 for the best published article in Scottish history for an article on married women’s testaments. I am an Associate Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, and a Fellow of the Raphael Samuel History Centre.
I post about my research on Twitter: @rmason717. My email address is Rebecca.Mason@glasgow.ac.uk.
Women, Marriage and Law in Scotland 