Margaret Allen taught gender studies and history in the Department of Social Inquiry at the University of Adelaide.
Alllen researched nineteenth-century South Australian writers, especially C.H. Spence, Matilda Jane Evans, and Catherine Martin.
Allen has also researched late nineteenth and early twentieth century connections between Australia and India with a focus on gender relations. Results of her research were published including 'White Already to Harvest : South Australian Women Missionaries in India', Feminist Review, 65 (June, 2000): 92-107 and 'Shadow Letters and the Karnana Letter: Indians Negotiate the White Australia Policy, 1901-1921', Life Writing, 8 (2011): 187-202.
