Emma recaps the annual Women’s History Scotland conference and shares her thoughts on the importance of events like this in bringing together feminist researchers and practitioners.
On the 9th of September I had the pleasure of attending the Women’s History Scotland annual conference held at Glasgow Women’s Library. This year’s theme was ‘Feminisms: Histories, Ideas and Practice’.
Women’s History Scotland is one of the Speaking Out project partners and their mission is to promote the study and research of women’s and gender history with a specific focus on those working in Scotland or on Scottish themes.
Papers were given on a wide variety of topics: prominent feminist figures – Glaswegian journalist and socialist Bella Pearce, principal of Bishop Otter Teacher Training College Dorothy Meads, and Pearl Jephcott, post-war sociologist; the development of female friendly societies in Scotland during the late 18th and early 19th centuries; the connection between Doc Martens, feminism and subculture; applying feminist methodology to analysing historic family portraits and an update on the second edition of the Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women due to be published in 2018.
Project coordinator Sarah Browne gave a talk on the Speaking Out project and the links between the Women’s Liberation Movement and the Women’s Aid movement which was well received and generated lots of interesting questions from delegates, such as the influences surrounding the formation of local Women’s Aid groups and what impact, historically, geography (rural/urban) had on their activities. There was a lot of enthusiasm for the project with many women approaching the team wanting to know more information and making suggestions of people we might want to interview.
Finally, the day ended with the Sue Innes Memorial Lecture delivered by Zoë Fairbairns, feminist writer. Titled Five Decades, Five Feminisms, Zoë reflected on how she has seen feminism change and grow over the past almost 50 years, from her days as a student at the University of St Andrews up until the present. An inspiring and rallying talk, Zoë reaffirmed why feminism is so important, highlighting historic attitudes and inequalities – some of which have changed, many of which have not – and urging everyone to continue challenging, questioning and speaking up.
Spaces and events like the Women’s History Scotland conference are so important for bringing together diverse feminist viewpoints from a range of disciplines, creating opportunities to share current areas of study and develop a network of feminist researchers and practitioners.
I’m already very much looking forward to next year’s conference. We will be close to the end of the project come autumn 2017 and anticipate having LOTS to share! We’re hoping some volunteers might be willing to speak about their experiences with the Speaking Out project too. The project team will be working with Women’s History Scotland to firm up plans and we’ll keep you all updated on developments.
Other highlights of the day: the AMAZING coffee chocolate brownies served at lunch!
If you would like to learn more about Women’s History Scotland or are interested in becoming a member check out their website: http://womenshistoryscotland.org
