Antoinette Burton, who is the director of the Humanities Research Institute at Illinois, wrote a new book, “Gender History: A Very Short Introduction,” which gives an overview of gender history as a category of historical analysis since the 1970s, including how the field has changed interpretations of the histories of slavery, capitalism, migration, and empire. The “Very Short Introductions” series by Oxford University Press concisely describes a wide range of topics.

“For many decades, histories were written without attention to women or gender or sexuality. Everything that mattered happened in Congress or on the battlefield,” Burton said. “Gender makes a huge difference in how political movements unfold and how capitalism works, in the workplace but also in the household. There’s no aspect of public, private, civic or political life that is untouched by gender.”

Although gender history and women’s history are often combined in academic departments, they are not the same, Burton said. The field of women’s history looks at the participation or exclusion of women in various aspects of society, while gender history looks at how the difference between the sexes is produced and managed.

Burton said gender history is relevant to exploring topics such as the wage gap between men and women, the differences in the rates of attainment of college degrees, and controversies over gender-neutral restrooms.

“We live in a moment when gender and the very idea that it exists is under fire. The idea that something connected to apparent biological sex could be socially constructed is really controversial right now,” she said. “In that sense, the availability of language for gender difference and fluidity is revolutionary.”

In her book, she disputes the notion that gender as a field of study resulted from a progression that began with feminism and civil rights. She said movements around gender and sexuality emerged simultaneously, although they developed in distinctive ways.