The Royal Library celebrates the International Women’s Day Centenary with an international conference featuring some of the world’s leading women’s thinkers, artists and politicians.

The Royal Library, along with KVINFO and Goethe-Institut Dänemark, will host one of the biggest events of the year by holding an international conference at The Royal Library, marking the centenary of International Women’s Day.

Meet some of the world’s leading thinkers, artists, debaters and politicians on women’s issues including:

Naomi Wolf – feminist debater, political consultant and writer
Haifaa Al-Mansour – Saudi feminist and groundbreaking film maker
Suzanne Brøgger – prize-winning Danish author
Mithu Sanyal – German cultural researcher and author
Jessica Valenti – American writer, blogger and debater
Nawal El-Saadawi – Egyptian physician and feminist debater
Vigdis Finnbogadottir – former president of Iceland

Over the course of the past century, the observance of 8th March has spread throughout the entire world. In spite of varying climates for commemorating the day, it has served as a gathering point for women, allowing them to attract attention for their issues.

Obviously, the centenary calls for a celebration of the victories hailed by women in terms of rights and equal opportunities. But it also lends an opportunity to evaluate the current state of affairs and ponder critical issues for the future. The nature of women’s living conditions varies widely, with basic rights yet to be achieved in some parts of the world. And in other places, even where gender equality appears to fare best, necessary demands remain to be posed.

In other words, there is good reason to keep 8th March alive!

Programme

The conference will be moderated by Annette K. Nielsen, Science Writer and Radio Presenter (Denmark) 

10:00 Welcome by Lise Bach Hansen, Producer of Cultural Events, The Royal Danish Library

10:05 Greetings from Clara Zetkin (1857-1933), German Feminist
by Goethe-Institut Dänemark

10:10 Panel Session: "On the Edge of Media"
Mithu Sanyal, Editor of 'Wir Frauen' (Germany)
Jessica Valenti, Editor of 'Feministing.com' (USA) Johanna Palmström, Writers and Activists (Sweden)

10:55 First Speaker: Lykke Friis
Minister for Gender Equality (Denmark)

11:10 Second Speaker: Vigdis Finnbogadottir
Former President of Iceland (1980-1996) (Iceland)

11:30 Break

11:45 Panel Session: "Dutifully Beautiful"
Nawal Al-Saadawi, Surgeon, Writer and Activist (Egypt)
Naomi Wolf, Writer (USA)

12:30 Reading by Suzanne Brøgger, Author (Denmark)

12:45 Break

13:45 Panel Session: "Express Your Self"
Ebba Witt-Brattström, Professor at Humboldt University (Sweden)
Haifaa Al-Mansour, Film Maker (Saudi Arabia)

14:15 Panel Session: "Invading Powerful Spaces"
Tine Aurvig-Huggenberg, Head of Public Affairs Prime Time Kommunikation A/S (Denmark)
Benja Fagerland, CEO TalentTunig “Female Future – Mobilizing Talents” (Norway)

14:45 "Seven - Contemporary Slavement" Photos and stories from the book SYV
by Uzma Andresen, Equal Rights Activist & Tina Enghoff, Photographer (Denmark)

15:05 "1910-2010: It Still Makes Sense"
by Elisabeth Møller Jensen, Director of KVINFO (Denmark)

15:15 Closing Remarks, Moderator Annette Nielsen

15:30 End of Conference