A commodity is a useful device in the human landscape. It has been used for centuries to further and enhance the survival of men, women and children. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines commodity as “a thing of use or value; spec. a thing that is an object of trade….” This panel will provide an opportunity for us to examine the ways in which British and American literary texts portray women as commodities and others portray women using commodities to gain economic autonomy. The panelists should incorporate texts that directly or indirectly address social problems (poetry and/or fiction from various literary genres including Antebellum American Literature, Shakespeare, Working-Class Literature, Nineteenth-Century American Literature, Modern Literature, Black British Literature) and that examine the interrelationship between women and commodities. Preference will be given to those proposals that present examples of gender oppression, identity conflict, and systemic disenfranchisement of women based on their gender. Please send 500 word abstracts to Sophie Lavin, blavin@optonline.net by 15 August.