International Women's Day Live Online Events

Presenter: Lisa Berry-Waite, Department of History at the University of Exeter

In November 1919, Nancy Astor won a Plymouth Sutton by-election, becoming the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons. Astor’s historic election represented a new era for British politics and caused headlines around the world; parliament was no longer a male-only space and for the first time a woman was able to directly influence legislation. Known for her outspoken nature, Astor is a fascinating figure to study. This lecture will explore Astor’s journey into politics, her political career in the House of Commons and her legacy today. It will also examine her feminism, connection with fellow female MPs and the obstacles women in politics encountered more broadly.

Join the Centre for Leadership on International Women’s Day for a panel event featuring some of our region’s leading business women discussing the impact of the pandemic on women and considering the role women can play in reset and recovery for our region.

Our panel will be chaired by Ciara Eastell OBE, Professor of Practice at the Business School and includes:

• Sarah Abrahams - Senior Travel Money Manager at M&S Bank and founder of the Inspiring Girls mentoring initiative in Exeter
• Sawsan Khuri - Innovation specialist and professional facilitator
• Clodagh Raddon – Entrepreneur and Chair of Exeter Chamber of Commerce
• Professor Ruth Sealy – Associate Professor in Management with a research focus on women on boards
• Melanie Walker MBE – Chief Executive of Devon Partnership NHS Trust

Trade and Exchange is a new arts commission that aims to delve into Exeter’s history and explore its future as an innovative, sustainable and resilient, carbon neutral city. Two artists, Naomi Hart and Emma Molony, will each take over an empty shop window in Exeter’s city centre and create temporary works of art. Inspiration for these artworks is derived from the theme of ‘trade and exchange’ and the collections at the Devon and Exeter Institution (DEI).

In developing their commissions, both artists discovered stories in the DEI about 18th and 19th century research into the natural world where women’s contributions were marginalised.

To mark International Women’s Day, Arts and Culture has invited the artists to speak about their new commissions, and two leading academics from the University of Exeter, Dr Ceri Lewis and Dr Rebecca Lovell, to speak about their relevant research in the natural and social sciences.

This event will be hosted by Sarah Campbell, Associate Director for Arts and Culture, University of Exeter (UoE).

The speakers will be:

• Naomi Hart, artist, and Dr Ceri Lewis, Associate Professor in Marine Biology (University of Exeter)
• Emma Molony, artist, and Dr Rebecca Lovell, Research Fellow at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health (University of Exeter)

Presenter: Maria Teresa Marangoni, PhD Candidate at the University of Exeter

Medical anthropology has explored the implications of the 'medicalisation' of the female body, with a particular attention to its reproductive function (birthing, menstruation, menopause). Maria Teresa Marangoni will deliver a presentation in which she will give a brief overview, and comment on how this influences women socially in our 'Western' countries.

The hidden history of women in the theatre

Presenter: Professor Katherine Newey, Drama Department, University of Exeter

What do you know about the work that women have done in the theatre? We know about famous actresses nowadays who win Oscars, and appear in celebrity magazines, or play ‘M’ in James Bond films. But did you know that one of the first women playwrights in England, Aphra Behn, was also rumoured to be a spy? Did you know that the first celebrity actress on the English stage, Nell Gwynn, wasn’t only a performer – she was a clever business woman, who helped other actresses set up in the theatre management business.

Women first appeared on the English stage in 1662 – before that, all female roles were played by teenage boys and young men. When they did finally appear as performers in public, many public commentators tended to discuss actresses as if they were selling themselves on stage. That idea of female actors being a bit morally suspect still lurks behind some people’s ideas today.

This talk will explore the ways in which various women working in the theatre did a lot more than simply charm their audiences (although sometimes that was hard enough). Women worked hard to become theatre managers, playwrights, directors, producers, stage managers, and scenic designers. In this talk we’ll look the history of these ‘invisible women’ who were the innovators who have helped to make the British theatre industry one of the best in the world.

Presenter: Nichola Jane Williams, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Exeter

In 2018 we celebrated the centenary of women getting the right to vote in the UK. Yet today women are still under represented in our political institutions. How far are we from achieving gender equality and why does it matter?

Presenter: Dr Daniel Derbyshire, Research Fellow, College of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter and Caitlin Gould, founder of TEC Girls and Chair of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Digital Skills Partnership

The session will focus on the role of unconscious bias towards women and how it affects their career opportunities, particularly with regard to STEM subjects. Dr Daniel Derbyshire will present the results of academic research measuring unconscious bias towards women in the workplace, while Caitlin Gould will provide her own personal experience of working in the digital sector and give some real world examples of unconscious bias in action. The session will also highlight the broad range of backgrounds that 'STEM' companies are actually looking to recruit from.

Presenter: Dr Michelle Ryan, Department of Psychology, University of Exeter

Dr Michelle Ryan will be delivering a Q&A on Gender Equality via Zoom.

Dr Ryan is a Professor of Social and Organisational Psychology at the University of Exeter, UK and a (part-time) Professor of Diversity at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. She is currently overseeing a European Research Council Consolidator Grant to investigate how context constrains women’s careers choices. She is involved in a number of other research projects. With Alex Haslam, she has uncovered the phenomenon of the glass cliff, whereby women (and members of other minority groups) are more likely to be placed in leadership positions that are risky or precarious. Research into the glass cliff was named by the New York Times as one of the top 100 ideas that shaped 2008, and in 2016 the term “the glass cliff” was shortlisted as Word of the Year by the Oxford English Dictionary.

Presenter: Dr Charlotte Bishop, Law School, University of Exeter

This live Zoom session will cover recent and impeding legal reforms within the field of gender-based violence which have come about due to research and activism by female academics – coercive control, domestic violence, extreme pornography, banning of the ‘rough sex’ defence, intimate image abuse (‘revenge porn’), women who kill their abusers, and more. There will be chance to ask questions from an expert in this field and share your thoughts and experience.

Presenter: Professor Helen Hanson, Department of English, University of Exeter

Blurb TBC

Presenter: Dr Chloe Preedy, Department of English, University of Exeter

The gender politics of Shakespeare's plays have long been debated by critics and readers. At times, such issues have provoked creative responses that reinterpret - and even reinvent - his drama for the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This session explores how Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet has been adapted by women working in the creative industries. Focusing on the interpretation of Hamlet (in cross-gendered contexts), Ophelia, and Queen Gertrude, we will take a brief look at some film and stage adaptations before considering Margaret Atwood's short story 'Gertrude Talks Back' and Lamia ben Youssef's 'Ophelia's Soliloquy' in more detail.

Presenter: Charlotte Kelsted, Department of History, University of Exeter

Throughout the British Mandate for Palestine (1920-1948), British women travelled to the country as missionaries, teachers, welfare workers, nurses, doctors and journalists. Their actions affected the lives of the people of Palestine and tell us much about the nature of British colonialism in this context. In existing histories of the Mandate, a male-dominated narrative prevails, with women receiving very little attention from historians. This session provides an introduction to studying History at university by offering you the opportunity to research these women yourselves through their correspondence, reports and publications, collected from archives across Britain, Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, Beirut, and Washington DC. We will explore the activities of these women and discuss why challenging the existing androcentric narrative is crucial for better understanding this seminal period in the history of modern Palestine and Israel.

Presenter: Georgina Lewis, Security, Conflict & Human Rights, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Exeter

Georgina is a PhD student at the University of Exeter. In this talk, Georgina gives a first-hand account of starting University as an undergraduate whilst estranged from her birth family and managing complex mental health diagnoses such as PTSD. This talk will not depict in detail the causes of her mental health; the focus here is on encouraging listeners that whilst there may be huge barriers in beginning and progressing through university, there is also support and opportunity to thrive.

Panellists: Dr Sarah Bailey (Medical School), Dr Jen Creaser (Department of Mathematics), Melissa Barlow (Medical School), Joanna Bennett (Department of Engineering), Dr Jennifer Catto (Department of Mathematics), Dr Lisa Price (Department of Sport and Health Sciences) and Dr Rebecca Boulton (Department of Biosciences)

A live Q&A with inspirational women in science, mathematics, and engineering. You have the chance to hear from female academics at the university of Exeter about what inspired them to work in science, mathematics or engineering, what they most love about their job, what they enjoy doing outside of work, and their ambitions for the future. 

Presenter: Nora Jaber, a Visiting Scholar at the University of Exeter, now completing her PhD at King's College London

There is a common misconception that one must make a choice between being Muslim and being a feminist. Islamic feminism provides a way of reconciling both things by grounding women’s rights in a women-centred re-interpretation of the Islamic texts.