From Thursday 19 November until Sunday 22nd, the British Library’s Leeds Programme holds a weekend of events to explore the debates around women’s rights and gender equality in the City under the banner Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women’s Rights.
Lead Curator Dr Polly Russell: “Leeds has a strong history of female activism, from the fight for suffrage, Reclaim the Night Marches, and union strikes for fairer working conditions, to the current campaign to make Leeds the first women-friendly City. This programme of events will bring together local stories and connect them to the wider history of women’s rights.”
The events are all online, and feature renowned and respected women from around the world, including poets, authors, writers and artists who will converse, read, create and perform.
Leeds-based literary activist Khadijah Ibrahiim, author Tracey Chevalier [Girl with a Pearl Earring], Yorkshire-based author and journalist Yvette Huddleston, Booker Prize nominee Nikita Lalwani, West Yorkshire born poet and writer Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, writer Stephanie Scott [What’s Left of me is Yours} and Yorkshire-based VR artist Rosie Summers will all take part in the weekend’s activity.
On Sunday 22 November, a Women in Leeds Wikithon shows us how to edit pages on Wikipedia and address its gender imbalance.
Leeds Libraries’ Collections Manager Rhian Isaac: “We are thrilled to be hosting an incredible weekender of online events developed with the British Library. They celebrate the achievements of women past and present but also encourage us to reflect on the work that still needs to be done. Now, more than ever, it is so important to recognise women still experience inequality because of their sexuality, gender identity, class or race and libraries have a role in ensuring the fight for all women’s rights continues.”
Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women’s Rights is a landmark British Library exhibition, which shows how the work of contemporary feminist activists in the UK has its roots in the long and complex history of women’s rights.
For detailed information on the events visit https://blogs.bl.uk/living-knowledge/2020/11/unfinished-business-leeds-weekender.html
Feature photograph is Nikita Lalwani. Photograph by Vik Sharma.
