On March 8th, the network Radboud Gender & Diversity Studies and the Radboud Women Professors Network invite you to celebrate International Women's Day 2023. We will have a keynote and panel discussion in the morning (in English), while in the afternoon we will have three presentations that address topics relevant to today's biggest challenges (in Dutch) as well as an award ceremony celebrating four women academics and their inspiring work (in Dutch and English).
To accommodate the diversity of our university and city, the event will be partly in English and partly in Dutch.
Program
10:00-10:30 Registration
10:30-12:30 Lecture dr. Markha Valenta: ‘Reinventing Global Feminisms in Fluid and Violent Times’, followed by an intergenerational panel discussion (in English). She will address current international developments around women's rights and feminism. We cordially invite you to reflect with her on the question: what does it mean to be a feminist today?
12:30-14:00 Lunch
14:30-16:30 Three lectures (in Dutch)
- prof. dr. Maria van den Muijsenbergh on poverty and health,
- prof. dr. Laura van Niftrik on sustainable solutions to nitrogen issues, and
- prof. dr. Natascha Wagner on motherhood and career and carework
16:30-17:15 Award ceremony: Jubilee Prize by the Women’s Professors Network (in English and Dutch)
17:15-18:00 Reception
For the full morning program: see the Radboud Gender and Diversity Studies page.
For the full afternoon program: see the Radboud Women Professor’s Network’s page.
Practical information
The event is free and open to anybody who would like to join.
The morning program starts at 10.00. Registration is in the main hall of the Elinor Ostrom building. Lunch is at 12.30 in The Yard (EOS).
The afternoon program starts 14.30 at the Experience Centre (Radboudumc), where we will offer some refreshments and finger food. Have a question? You can reach out to us at internationale-vrouwendag [at] ru.nl.
About the speakers
Dr. Markha Valenta is a trans-Atlantic researcher and teacher focusing on the geopolitics of diversity. She is currently the president of the Netherlands American Studies Association (NASA) and Director of Community Engagement at University College Utrecht.
On a global scale, the past year left us with devastating setbacks for women’s rights: the reversal of Roe v Wade in the United States, the state violence of the Irani government against those protesting for women’s rights, the reversal of women’s right to a public and academic life in Afghanistan, and the anti-gender politics of populist parties in Europe, as well as Latin America and Asia. Across the world, there are concerted, aggressive attempts to limit women’s agency, power and flourishing.
At the same time, there has been powerful protest and resistance to these setbacks and there is a younger generation that is developing a new vocabulary and new strategies to challenge misogyny. All over the world, people have been speaking out in solidarity with the protesters in Iran, the women in Afghanistan, the women in the US. At the same time, across the world, what it is to be a “woman” – physically, virtually, socially and politically – is being reinvented and debated.
Prof. dr. Maria van den Muijsenbergh is a general practitioner and professor of health inequalities and person-centred integrated primary care.
The most affluent group in the Netherlands lives 25 years longer in good health than the poorest group. Why is that? Why are poor people less healthy? In this lecture, Maria van den Muijsenbergh discusses who is involved, how these socio-economic health differences are caused and the role of chronic stress and health literacy in this context. Especially, she will discuss what we can do about it as a society and as human beings.
Prof. dr. Laura van Niftrik is a professor of microbial cell biology and biochemistry at Radboud Faculty of Science.
The nitrogen cycle is out of balance. Since the industrial revolution, human activity has added excess nitrogen to our ecosystem - mainly in the form of ammonia. This has far-reaching consequences for the climate: it contributes to global warming and a decline in water quality. Various bacteria can be used to help with this nitrogen problem; such as the so-called Anammox bacterium. This can convert harmful ammonia to harmless nitrogen gas. In this lecture, Laura van Niftrik discusses the sustainable application of Anammox bacteria within nitrogen problems and wastewater treatment, and how these unique bacteria are able to use ammonia for their metabolism.
Prof. dr. Natascha Wagner is professor of International Economics at the department of Economics and Business Economics at Radboud University.
Once Dutch women enter motherhood they rarely ever go back to full-time work. Women are giving birth later and later each decade, compare the current average age is 30, while in the 1960’s it was 25. A delay which means decreased fertility. It seems like many Dutch women face the harsh choice of either having children or a career, 70% of women in the country work less than 36 hours a week. This results in fewer women in the labor market, or fewer children. In this lecture, Professor Natascha Wagner discusses the situation of mothers in the labor market and the issue of the unpaid care work they provide, from mothers’ perspectives.