International Women's Day Event Round-Up
This International Women’s Day, we wanted to highlight events taking place across the Oxford community to celebrate women’s achievements and explore what is still to be done in achieving gender equality. From women musicians past and present to tackling gender imbalance in the sciences, the range of events on Monday 8th March and beyond should provide something thought-provoking for everyone.
Find out more about International Women’s Day and related events around the globe.
The Black Chicago Renaissance Women: Lives & Legacies in Music with Dr Samantha Ege (TORCH)
Monday 8 March 2021, 5pm – 6pm
Dr. Samantha Ege (Lincoln College, Oxford) presents an hour-long lecture-recital tracing the lives and legacies of Black women composers in Chicago. The music of Florence B. Price, Nora Douglas Holt, Margaret Bonds, and Betty Jackson King represents the foundations of a vibrant creative network and Dr. Ege contextualises this in the transformative movement of the Negro Renaissance.
On demand until Wednesday 31 March
A forgotten story giving one woman’s first-hand account of brutality at the height of the slave trade. Powerful and entertaining, SOLD tells true story of the enslaved Mary Prince.
Through theatre, song, music, drumming and dance, this Edinburgh award winning masterpiece of Black British theatre is inspired by the storytelling traditions of the West African griot.
Women’s Work (Ashmolean Museum)
Monday 8 March 2021, 2pm – 3pm
Alice Foster unveils images of women at work throughout the ages in this online talk. She looks at female artists, factory girls, scientists, governesses and others. Some are celebrated, others are vilified, and she asks the question: just what is Women’s Work? Join her and prepare to be surprised.
Natasha Loges and Yijia Tu in conversation (Women in Global Music)
Monday 8 March 2021, 3pm – 4.15pm
Women in Global Music (WIGM) is a new research and industry network to be launched in June 2021. At the heart of network lies a desire to create an inclusive and equitable forum in which to share ideas and learn from one another in a collaborative spirit. The event will explore the promotion of women’s creative voices across borders, such as diversity of representation within the global music industry, and cultural identity in the webcasting age.
With Joe Davies, Yvonne Liao, Professor Natasha Loges, and Yijia Tu.
Heritage Pathway: Women in Science (Oxford University Museum of Natural History)
Monday 8 March 2021, 3pm – 5pm
Register here (Members of Oxford University only)
Are you interested in the representation of women in cultural institutions? Would you like to contribute to an exciting new initiative at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History?
The Museum is looking to redress the historic disparity between male and female science contributors and explore how best to bring the work of current female scientists to the fore. Facilitating the sharing and discussion of ideas and opinions, this workshop will feed into initial planning by the museum that will help shape the way that female scientists are highlighted in the physical space and programme of events.
With Ellena Grillo, Kelly Richards and Janet Stott.
Have women finally won the battle to be taken seriously in comedy? (Kellogg College, Oxford)
Monday 8 March 2021, 5pm – 6pm
Women in comedy have finally come of age. Comedy driven by women is now important, persuasive, enormously influential, and big business. It wasn’t always the case; women comedians have lagged behind men for decades and been traditionally disregarded as not even very funny. How did this change? And what is it that makes women's comedy so good?
With Sindhu Vee, Kat Summers and Judith Holder, chaired by Dr Tara Stubbs.
Monday 8 March 2021, 5pm – 6pm
Professor Senia Paseta will give an International Women's Day Lecture, followed by a Q & A which will be chaired by Baroness Janet Royall, Principal of Somerville.
If you would like to attend the event, please RSVP to pa@history.ox.ac.uk.
Girl, Woman, Other: in conversation with Bernardine Evaristo
Monday 8 March 2021, 7pm – 8pm
Join St Anne’s College for Bernardine Evaristo’s inaugural event as an Honorary Fellow. Held on International Women’s Day, it will be a fascinating opportunity to hear from Bernardine on topics including her career, the choices she has made, and her journey to winning the Booker Prize.
Celestial Bodies (Young Women’s Music Project)
Monday 8 March 2021, 8pm – 8.40pm
Through song, movement, and animation, YWMP brings you a performance piece celebrating the infinite possibilities we create with fearless feminine energy. Showcasing the work of womxn and non-binary people from Oxford, Celestial Bodies will celebrate International Womens' Day from lockdown, with a vibrant audio-visual experience.
Co-hosted by Oxford Contemporary Music, Fusion Arts, and Oxford International Women's Festival.
Wildlife, Warriors & Women (Oxford University Museum of Natural History)
Monday 8 March 2021, 8pm – 9pm
Dr. Amy Dickman reflects on the essential, driving role that women have played in the conservation of lions and other large carnivores both in communities across Africa and within the dedicated group of female scientists that make up ‘The Pride Alliance’.
Dr Amy Dickman is Kaplan Senior Research Fellow in Felid Conservation at Oxford University, Founder and Director of the Ruaha Carnivore Project.
Women's War Stories Through Art (The North Wall Arts Centre)
Wednesday 10 March 2021, 7pm – 8.15pm
To mark Oxford International Women’s Festival 2021, two incredible women will be discussing their artistic responses to their personal stories of war.
Diana Forster’s exploration of art and conflict arose from her mother’s experiences in Poland in the Second World War. Her exhibition, Such a Long Journey, will be at The North Wall in September.
Rana Ibrahim is an Iraqi archaeologist, a freelance artist and the founder of Iraqi Women Art and War (IWAW) project. Her project working with Iraqi women will culminate in a new exhibition, ‘Of Ordinary Things’, which will be exhibited online via IWAW website and exhibited physically at the Museum of Oxford later in 2021.
Oxford International Women’s Festival
Until Sunday 14 March 2021
Since the Oxford International Festival began in 1989, it has covered a wide range of topics ranging from the arts to the sciences, as well as women’s creativity and initiating and supporting campaigns on women’s rights.
The 2021 Festival will focus on women’s creativity, particularly their contributions to a variety of landscapes. This Festival seeks to recognise women’s role in helping to change and adapt to all kinds of landscape, particularly in the last two hundred years, when industrialisation, urbanisation, technological changes, the expansion in education, health, politics, changes in domestic life and responses to climate change, have transformed women’s lives.
