Build Feminist Futures Symposium 2025

Build Feminist Futures

 

 

 

 

The symposium commemorates 50+ years of global feminism by marking key moments in that history, including: 1975 International Women’s Year, the first UN World Conference on women convened in Mexico City in 1975, and the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on women convened in 1995 in Beijing that produced the Beijing Plan of Action. 

 

Click here for list and bios of all symposium speakers.

 

 

 

Program Schedule

Thursday, March 13th 4:00pm, Kirkhof Center 2263

Jocelyn Olcott

“The World Will Not Be the Same”: How the United Nations International Women’s Year Shaped Transnational Feminisms” (INT 100 Approved)

In this talk, Dr. Jocelyn Olcott will discuss her book International Women’s Year: The Greatest Consciousness Raising Event in History and the game-changing role the IWY conference played in altering the culture of transnational women’s activism that would continue to grow over the following three decades.

Dinner and Discussion to follow the keynote at 6 p.m. in the Thornapple Room.

RSVP for Dinner


Friday, March 14: Morning Sessions

Morning Sessions 9:00am - 12:00pm, Kirkhof Center 2266 and 2270

We have several concurrent sessions of speakers, joining us virtually.

8:30am Coffee and light breakfast

Kirkhof Center 2266

9:00am  Dr. Jallicia Jolly 

Black Feminist Futures: Care, Community, and Transnational Reproductive Justice

 

 

11:00am  GVSU Panel: The UN Decade for Women and its justice cascade.

Conveners: Andy Schlewitz, Aaron Eddens, Polly Diven

Kirkhof Center 2270

9:00am  Dr. Carmen Diana Deere 

1975 and the Emergence of WID and GAD: Perspectives of a Latinamericanist

10:00am  Dr. Heather Switzer

Girls in Development: Discovering Girls, Producing Girl Effects

11:00am  Dr. Durba Mitra

Third World Feminism and the Paradoxes of the UN Year and Decade for Women


Friday, March 14: Afternoon Sessions

Afternoon Sessions 12:00pm, Mary Idema Pew Library Multipurpose Room

Lunch will be served during the 12pm session

RSVP for Lunch

12:00pm  Anna Gollub

Becoming UN Women

The presentation  will discuss the historical context of Bejing Platform for Action from the perspective of UN Women, provide an insider's view of various UN processes related to Beijing +30, and reflect on what it means to be a professional feminist in the changing world.

 

1:15pm  Kavita Ramdas

Feminism Remains Foreign: Ideals vs Practice for Gender Justice

Kavita N Ramdas just completed a six month fellowship at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, Germany, where she looked closely at the question of feminist foreign policy both in Germany and other parts of the world. Her talk will share some of the observations and lessons learned during her research and reflect on why feminism - as an ideology and aspirational set of ideals and values -  remains unintegrated into policies both at home and in relations with the rest of the world.

 



Page last modified March 10, 2025