A wise women manifesto

To mark International Women’s Day, and in response to colleagues feeling 'frozen out' of academia, Lizzie Coombes, Gillian Dyson, Joanna Leah and Anne Schiffer have developed a project to empower women through creativity.

Wise Woman exhibition in Leeds School of Arts

Photo:

Lizzie Coombes

The Wise Women project celebrates women in academia through creative events and outputs, including performances, installations and a Wise Women Manifesto. Together, we wanted Wise Women to give a voice to colleagues who felt they were frozen out, isolated, lacking agency, or struggling in their early-stage careers. We did this by focusing on older or ‘wise’ women academics.

Women in academia face pressures that pose a risk to their career development, health and wellbeing and these challenges have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Rather than highlighting women as victims, we wanted Wise Women to bring women from our school – Leeds Beckett University’s School of Arts - many who had never physically met each other, together in one space to celebrate what we do, fostering solidarity and a sense of collective empowerment.

A day-long Wise Women symposium saw women from across the Leeds School of Arts (LSA) discuss their experiences. “It was refreshingly open and empowering sharing experience and conversation; recognising we are not alone. The format broke down many barriers which are usually placed by individuals in academia,” one of the 36 participants said.

Another woman commented: “I've been struggling since returning from my second maternity leave due to staff changes … and being introduced to this network of amazing women at the LSA is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Empowering portraits

One of our team, Lizzie Coombes, was commissioned to capture portraits of women academics leading up to and during a symposium. The portrait process gave women ownership and control over their image, as we uncovered issues of representation, objectification and self-esteem.

Arranged in clusters of four portraits, the final images represent the vibrant wealth of knowledge and experience shared by the female academics in our team. We installed the images in the foyers of the art school as a visual reminder to all the building’s users of the contribution that women make to the advancement of knowledge, to teaching and learning and to the success of our university.

The collection, which has now been installed in two LSA buildings, creates a ‘chorus’ of portraits that are playful, collective and inviting. They communicate the empowering nature of the photographic process and challenge the traditional hierarchy associated with the solo portrait.

One support staff member told us: “I wanted to say how brilliant it is to see so many women’s pictures hung in the entrance of [the art school]. It is so inspiring and empowering to see these women being honoured for the work they do in such a male-orientated industry.”

The wise women manifesto

As part of the symposium, Dr Joanna Leah facilitated the co-creation of a Wise Women Manifesto using four ‘zones of conversation’ that included a call-to-action verb, everyday objects and a feminist quote to prompt discussion.

For example, the verb ‘to shed’ was placed alongside blue feathers, with a quote from Caroline Criado-Perez (2019): ‘[the] truth is that around the world women continue to be disadvantaged by a working culture that is based on the ideological belief that male needs are universal.’

Women co-creating their manifesto.

This process enabled an embodied and collective sense of agency whereby women were empowered to speak, write and, in some cases perform, in a friendly, playful and witty manner. The resulting statements were gathered into a ten-point manifesto alongside images and reflections of the day.

Although we were focused on creating a celebratory event, we also understood that providing a space to share struggles was essential. A ‘Moaning Lisa’ poster invited discussion around the gripes and moans of women academics.

This revealed insights into our colleagues’ lived experiences, which included being overlooked or ‘mansplained’ to, dealing with invisible hierarchies, a lack of understanding for women in menopause or those with carer or parental responsibilities, as well as the burden of ‘academic housework’.

A summary was created that now informs internal work on equality, diversity, and inclusion.

‘Moaning Lisa’ poster covered in sticky-notes.

Project legacy

We have been moved, inspired, grateful and angry that this project has touched so many women in the school. Moved, because it felt like a small action which has already caused a ripple effect. Inspired because women are developing conversations and spin off projects in response to Wise Women. Grateful for the collaboration, generosity and warmth. And angry, that we still need to have this discuss in our university and in arts and higher education in general.

Three further projects are planned for 2023. Gillian Dyson has been awarded funding from Leeds Year of Culture for Wise Women Conversations - a series of discussions with women involved with or supporting the cultural sector in Leeds. The conversations will take place in an informal, public setting and will be edited into podcasts for release in autumn 2023.

A new strand, Wise Women 2.0, will see Anne Schiffer, Alia Fadel, and Joanna Leah examine obstacles facing women in the arts school that hinder their progression, with an aim to transfer knowledge and get into the nitty gritty of improved infrastructural support.

Meanwhile, Wise Women 3.0 will see our research model of portraiture and manifesto writing extended to two further schools in the university to support women in other disciplines, such as Built Environment and Nursing, to become ‘wise women’ and foster further visibility within each school.

Lizzie Coombes is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Journalism at Leeds Beckett University.
Dr Gillian Dyson is a Senior Lecturer in Performance at Leeds Beckett University.
Dr Joanna Leah is a Senior Lecturer in Contextual Studies at Leeds Beckett University.
Dr Anne Schiffer is a Reader in Product Design at Leeds Beckett University.