International Women's Day and the Stories We Tell About Feminism

International Women's Day and the Stories We Tell About Feminism with Dr Rosa Campbell

IASH Seminar Room

Presently, there are two stories being told about feminism. First is the 'anti-feminist' story that the global far-right tells. This falsely suggests that the movement has been so successful that men are now oppressed and that feminism does not represent the interests of 'ordinary' women, but elites. The second is an important, compelling critique from the left, that feminism is not inclusive enough, that it has been a movement for white, middle-class women from the Global North. In this talk, I will discuss a visit of Vietnamese women to Australia for International Women's Day 1975 to demonstrate how global histories of feminism might offer us new stories.

Respondents: Wannes Dupont and Hemangini Gupta

Rosa Campbell is a global historian of feminism, and the GENDER.ED Postdoctoral Fellow at IASH. While histories of feminism usually focus on one national context, her work examines how feminism was influenced by global political events, international organisations, migrations and travels and tactics, ideas and texts which circulated across borders. She dislodges accounts that see white women as the primary feminist change makers and the Global North as the centre of emancipatory political thought. Between 2018-2023 she was a Smuts Scholar at the University of Cambridge where she completed her doctoral dissertation. This was the first global history of the Australian women’s liberation movement (1968-1990). Her new project considers the global history of the four United Nations Conferences on the Status of Women (1975-1995) and sees these as key to feminism in the late twentieth century. Her academic work has been published in Signs: A Journal of Women in Culture and Society and Feminist Review. She convenes a writing group for early career scholars working on the global history of feminism. She is passionate about extending ideas beyond the academy and her work on a diverse range of topics has appeared in The White Review, The Independent, Literary Hub and Public Books. She also produces work for galleries, museums and public institutions and from 2021-21 she was an editor at History Workshop. More at https://www.rosa-campbell.com/.

This event is presented by the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, in partnership with GENDER.ED.

This is a free event, which means we overbook to allow for no-shows and to avoid empty seats. While we generally do not have to turn people away, this does mean we cannot guarantee everyone a place. Admission is on a first come, first served basis.

Accessibility:

This event will take place at IASH, 2 Hope Park Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9NW. Please see a map here: https://www.iash.ed.ac.uk/location

The Seminar Room is on the first floor, and unfortunately IASH does not have a lift. If you have mobility issues and would like to discuss access, please contact [email protected] as soon as possible.

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Please also join us for our other IWD events on 8 March, including the 2024 International Women’s Day Lecture, delivered by Amina Shah, Chief Executive of the National Library of Scotland: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-university-of-edinburgh-international-womens-day-lecture-2024-tickets-807591005437

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Image copyright the Australian War Memorial, accession number ARTV07367, created by Mandy Martin, 1975. All rights reserved.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

IASH, The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Edinburgh, United Kingdom