Women of the world unite: the UN Decade for Women and transnational feminisms 1975 to now

Women of the world unite: the UN Decade for Women and transnational feminisms 1975 to now is on at the London School of Economics (LSE) on Monday 26 October, from 6.30pm to 8pm. It's a roundtable discussion that brings together Professor Sumi Madhok, Professor Durba Mitra and Dr Imaobong Umoren, with Dr SM Rodríguez chairing.

The conversation centres on the UN Decade for Women, which kicked off in 1975 when the United Nations declared that year International Women's Year and held the first of a series of conferences. The roundtable weighs the legacies of that decade against the diversity of transnational feminist struggles that ran alongside it — movements that fought for equality while also taking on slavery, suffrage, imperialism, colonialism, fascism, capitalism and militarism.

There's a bit of history behind the session, too. It started as an exhibition at LSE's Women's Library in 2025, marking the fiftieth anniversary of that 1975 declaration. The Women's Library itself is part of the British Library of Political and Economic Science, which was founded in 1896 and is celebrating its centenary this year. The LSE Department of Gender Studies, established in 1993, is the largest of its kind in Europe. The session is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2026 and is hosted alongside the Department of International History and LSE Library.

It runs in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, in the Cheng Kin Ku Building on the LSE campus. A drinks reception follows the discussion, and a video of the session will be posted to LSE's YouTube channel afterwards. It's on Monday 26 October, 6.30pm to 8pm.