Book presentation Ireen Dubel about transnational feminist solidarity activism
This year, 2025, marks fifty years of contemporary Dutch transnational feminist solidarity activism with women’s issues and gender relations in the Global South. The origin of this engagement dates back to 1975, which was proclaimed International Women’s Year thanks to the mobilisation of feminists within and around the UN at the time.
Encounters at the International Women’s Year Conference in Mexico City inspired the evolvement of women’s rights and gender equality as a field of work that feminist activists, development practitioners, policymakers, politicians and scholars have engaged with around the world. In the Netherlands, the International Women’s Year provided an impetus to the adoption of gender equality as a policy priority in Dutch development cooperation. In 2024, the Schoof cabinet decided to abandon this priority in Dutch foreign and development cooperation policy.
In her book, Ireen Dubel discusses specific case studies of solidarity activism and policy advocacy during the period 1975-2018. These include the agenda-setting of women’s reproductive rights in Dutch and international policy, access to safe abortion activism by Women on Waves, solidarity support to women under apartheid by the women’s group of the Dutch Anti-Apartheid Movement, advocacy on women’s rights and sexual rights at the UN, and mobilisation of political and financial support for women’s movements around the world. Based on archival research and interviews with key players, as well as first-hand documentation of events and policy claims, Ireen provides evidence for the strategic importance of collaboration between feminist activists and policy advocates from civil society organisations and academia in the Netherlands and the Global South, as well as allies within the Dutch government and among politicians, in order to achieve political success. The history covered in the book has the potential to inspire contemporary and future transnational feminist solidarity engagement.
At the presentation, Ireen will explain the motivation for conducting the multi-year research for the book and highlight some distinct features as well as contentious aspects of the activism that she studied. During a roundtable discussion, Anouka van Eerdewijk, Joke Swiebel, To Tjoelker and Elaine Unterhalter will share their views on the book and their experiences with transnational feminist solidarity activism and feminist policy advocacy.
Programme
16.00 – 16.05 Welcome and introduction of the programme by Leontine Bijleveld
16.05 – 16.20 Ireen Dubel – The relevance of the research and some unique and contentious features of Dutch transnational feminist solidarity activism during 1975-2018
16.20 – 16.35 Presentation of the first copies of the book to: Laetitia van den Assum and Daniëlle Hirsch
16.35 – 17.10 Round table discussion with Anouka van Eerdewijk, Joke Swiebel, To Tjoelker and Elaine Unterhalter
17.10 – 17.20 Discussion with the audience
17.20 – 18.30 Drinks and book sale by Uitgeverij Verloren
Practical
Date 13 November 2025
Time 16.00 hrs
Place IISG, Cruquiusweg 31, Amsterdam
Entrance Free entrance, but please register at event@iisg.nl
Ireen Dubel’s professional career of 35 years in Dutch and international development cooperation, with a main focus on women’s rights and gender equality, inspired her to analyse the so far unnoticed history of contemporary Dutch transnational feminist solidarity activism. She is currently a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Amsterdam where she explores the politics of Dutch transnational feminist solidarity activism focused on the Global South.
Laetitia van den Assum has worked as a (top) Dutch diplomat the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since the late 1970s. As a retired diplomat, she remains critically concerned about human rights violations in Myanmar.
Daniëlle Hirsch is a member of Parliament for Groen Links/PvdA responsible for international trade, development cooperation and international climate policy. She advocates for the watchdog role of and support for civil society organisations, including women's rights organisations.
Anouka van Eerdewijk has spent twenty years of advocating for and researching gender equality around the world. She has worked as a Senior Gender Advisor at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam and lecturer and researcher at the Centre for International Development Issues Nijmegen at Radboud University.
Joke Swiebel has served for more than twenty years as a (senior) civil servant, primarily in the field of Dutch domestic gender equality policy. Her dissertation on four legislative changes contributing to equal lesbian and gay rights in the Netherlands was published in 2024.
To Tjoelker has engaged with women, gender and development issues since the mid-1980s and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993. She has has played a key role in securing funding and managing partnerships between the ministry and Dutch and Southern NGOs, including women’s rights organisations.
Elaine Unterhalter is a Professor of Education and International Development at the University College London. She has published extensively, including on the themes of gender, race and class inequalities and their bearing on education.
