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...
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...
Protestors, 2012, gouache on cold-pressed tiepolo, 190mm x 280mm, Emma Chalmers from her 'Around the Block on Tenterhooks' series An Interview with Jocelyn Harris, Founding Member of the Dunedin Collective for Woman (active 1971-1986) “It was great fun really. You had a sense of doing and saying things that hadn’t been done for a long time” – Jocelyn Harris The Dunedin Collective for Woman ( DCW ) was a Women’s Liberation group active in Dunedin from 1971-1986. Jocelyn Harris, author and Emeritus Professor at Otago University, was a founding member of this movement. New Zealand was a very different place back then. Women had very well defined gender roles and were expected to get married, to be mothers and to wear make-up. There was nothing even remotely reflecting pay parity in the working world. When Harris was at Otago University in the 1970s there were only 6 women in the medical school year. Judy Medlicott was the only significant wo...
Comments
Post a Comment