Intersectional Feminism in Dunedin ‘Intersectional Feminism in Dunedin’ is a two-week long travelling exhibition and publication to commemorate the 125 th anniversary of suffrage in New Zealand. The publication examines the story of suffrage in this city and tracks the subsequent history of feminism in Dunedin from 1893 to today and the exhibition relates to artists’ lived experiences in this city. The project adopts intersectional feminism as its framework, taking into account how issues of class, race, disability and sexuality intersect with feminism and how this has been recognised in Dunedin, or not. We identify intersectional feminism as the avant-garde of feminism today and the most progressive descendent of suffrage, as it includes and recognises a diverse array of perspectives and experiences which feminism has previously failed to take into account. _ Artist Julia Young (with Megan Brady, both of Studio2 and the Margaret Freeman Gallery) c...
In 1971, a small group of women in Dunedin began holding meetings to discuss the ideas of Women’s Liberation, and they called themselves the Dunedin Collective for Women (DCW). This was a consciousness-raising group, and some of its main concerns were equal pay, good childcare, women’s control over their bodies, and the ending of stereotyped gender roles ( Rape Crisis Dunedin: Herstory , http://www.rapecrisisdunedin.org.nz/herstory.htm). In the 1970s, the Women’s Liberation Movement discussed women expressing and celebrating their sexuality and thus there was a focus on issues such as access to birth control and abortion. The 1980s saw the second phase of the feminist movement begin, and there was an expanded awareness of, and increased focus on, women’s vulnerability to sexual violence (Charlotte Macdonald, The Vote the Pill and the demon drink: a history of feminist writing in New Zealand, 1869 – 1993 , 208). In 1980, after a m...
The Story of the Otago Pioneer Women’s Memorial Association Hall – An Interview with Rachael Francis, Historian in Residence The hall today The hall as it appeared in 1925 Suffrage in this country was undoubtedly a major achievement, with New Zealand being the first nation in the world to achieve this step towards gender parity. However, progress in terms of gender equality after 1893 was halting in many respects – the suffrage movement dissipated and not much changed in terms of legislation or cultural attitudes towards women. In fact, 50 years after suffrage in New Zealand women still couldn’t sign off on renting a public hall in Dunedin but had to have their husband do this for them. Thus began the story of the Otago Pioneer Women’s Memorial Association hall. - In 1936 preparations had begun for New Zealand’s centennial in 1940, which would include various memorials to New Zealand’s early settlers and pioneers. The Otago Women’s Centennial Counci...
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