Women of the world unite: the UN Decade for Women and transnational feminisms 1975 to now
In 2025, the Women’s Library at LSE organised an exhibition Women of the World Unite: The UN Decade for Women and Transnational Feminisms 1975 to Now to mark the fifty years since the United Nations declared 1975 the International Women’s Year and held the first in a series of conferences to mark the UN Decade for Women.
This cross-disciplinary LSE roundtable discussion and conversation between three world-leading scholars of transnational feminism reflects on the vibrancy, diversity and contestations of transnational feminisms across time and place and on the legacies of the UN Decade for Women and broader movements of transnational feminism historically and in our contemporary moment.
The UN Decade for Women 1975 was a seminal moment in advancing and galvanising transnational feminist struggles. The LSE exhibition highlighted the multifaceted plural nature of feminist struggles around the world, which called for equality alongside struggles against slavery, suffrage, imperialism. colonialism, fascism, capitalism, and militarism.
Meet our speakers and chair
Sumi Madhok is Professor of Political Theory and Gender Studies at the Department of Gender Studies. Her scholarship goes beyond producing critiques of Eurocentrism and develops new concepts, theoretical frameworks and methodologies, which contribute to setting a new direction for the social sciences focused on epistemic interventions from most of the world.
Durba Mitra is the Stanley Kelley Jr.,Visiting Professor for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University. Mitra’s scholarship brings together feminist political thought, sexuality studies, and global intellectual history.
Imaobong Umoren is Associate Professor of International History in the Department of International History at LSE. Her research interests, publications, and teaching focus on histories of women, racism, activism and political thought in the Caribbean, Britain and the US focusing on the modern and contemporary period.
SM Rodriguez is scholar-activist and Assistant Professor of Gender, Rights and Human Rights. Their research advances the understanding of the impact of racialisation, criminalisation, ableism, and the imposition of gendered and sexual control on people of African descent
More about this event
Join us on campus or register to watch the event online at LSE Live. LSE Live is the home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.
LSE Gender pioneers intersectional, interdisciplinary and transnational teaching and research, addressing the tenacity of gendered power relations and gendered inequalities in times of global transformations. Established in 1993, LSE Gender is the largest Department of Gender Studies in Europe.
The world-leading Department of International History at LSE is ranked 6th in the world in the QS World University 2025 for History, and 1st in the UK for History in the Complete University Guide 2026.
The British Library of Political and Economic Science was founded in 1896, a year after the London School of Economics and Political Science. It has been based in the Lionel Robbins Building since 1978 and houses many world class collections, including The Women's Library. This year, LSE Library is celebrating 100 years of the Women's Library.
The event will be followed by a drinks reception to which all are invited.
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