Inspiring Change: International Women's Day 2014 at the Bluecoat.

Sat 8 - Sun 9 March 2014

TALKS, DISCUSSIONS
11am Women as Outsiders by Liverpool Hope University in the Sandon Room
Liverpool Hope University presents a panel discussion on the topic, Women as Outsiders.
International Womens Day is a day to celebrate womens social, political and economic
achievements. This session will examine women as outsiders in history and literature,
celebrating the often overlooked aspects of womens past lives. The panel includes two
papers; the Pirate Women and the Rise of the Victorian Actress. There will be time for
questions and an audience discussion. The panel will be chaired by Dr Sonja Tiernan.

Sonja Tiernan is a Lecturer in Modern History at Liverpool Hope University specialising in
womens history and the history of crime and punishment. Her latest book Eva Gore-Booth:
An Image of such politics focuses on the Irish author and influential political activist in
Manchester (Manchester University Press, 2012).

The Pirate Women by Dr John Appleby

This presentation will look at various aspects of the lives of women pirates during the so-
called golden age of piracy from the 1680s to the 1720s. It will survey the careers of Ann
Bonny and Mary Read within a broader context of maritime enterprise, while exploring the
underlying ambiguity between the reality and image of their unusual careers aboard a pirate
ship.

John Appleby is a senior lecturer in History at Liverpool Hope University. He works on
maritime and colonial history and has recently published Women and English Piracy, 1540-
1720: Partners and Victims of Crime (The Boydell Press, 2013).


From Whoredom to Stardom: the Rise of the Victorian Actress by Dr Trish Ferguson

This talk will trace the evolution of the public perception of the actress in the nineteenth
century from social pariah to celebrated starlet. It will survey the figure of the actress in
fiction, journalism and advertising over the course of the era to reveal a radical shift away
from linking the actress with prostitution and toward viewing her as the embodiment of purity.

Trish Ferguson is a Lecturer in the English Department at Liverpool Hope University,
specialising in nineteenth-century literature. She has a particular interest in the relationship
between law and literature and has recently published a monograph entitled Thomas Hardy
and the Law (Edinburgh University Press, 2013).







12pm Different faces of feminism: place, voice and diversity by University of
Liverpool in the Sandon Room
Presenters Sandra Walklate, Jill Rudd and Sally Theobold
The legacy of Eleanor Rathbone for women's rights.
Sandra Walklate is Eleanor Rathbone Chair of Sociology and joined Liverpool University in
J anuary 2006 having held previous appointments at Manchester Metropolitan, Keele, Salford
and Liverpool Polytechnic where she began her career in J anuary 1975. Throughout her
career she has maintained an interest in criminal victimisation that in more recent times has
been extended both substantially and conceptually to include the impact of 'new terrorism'
and war.
How have images of women in literature have reflected changes in expectation and
feminism?
Jill Rudd has taught on Liverpool Universitys undergraduate module Women Writers for
20 years on and off and was part of both the Womens Studies undergraduate programme
team and the teaching team for the MA programme Woman and the Word. Alas, neither of
those programmes still run. She has also researched and written on the American writer,
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who is now most famous for her short story The Yellow
Wallpaper depicting the decline of a woman due to post-natal depression and the infamous
Rest Cure of Weir Mitchell, but in her own time known as an influential public speaker and
campaigner on womens rights and social equality.
Women's rights, women's health.
Sally Theobald works with colleagues from the gender and health group (Rachel Tolhurst,
Eleanor MacPherson, Esther Richards, Kate J ehan, J o Raven) at the Liverpool School of
Tropical Medicine to drive forward research on gender, equity and international health, from
a feminist perspective. Current projects include: building gender responsive health systems
in post conflict contexts; action research with close to community providers in Kenya,
Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Bangladesh and Indonesia; gender and vulnerability and
resilience to HIV in fishing communities in Malawi; post abortion care in China; evaluating
demand side financing to improve delivery care access for maternal health in India; and
gender, HIV and older women and men in Uganda. In this presentation members of the
gender and health group will highlight approaches, findings and impact of these research
projects and include video inputs from partners from Africa and Asia.

2pm Discussions & debates on todays women issues (facing cuts, discrimination,
violence, hate crime, unequal pay) by feminist groups in Merseyside in the Performance
Space
- Merseyside Womens Movement
- Liverpool Womens Network
- Liverpool Charity & Voluntary Services (LCVS)


3pm Women in Arts in the Sandon Room
Why do women represent a higher proportion of the workforce in the arts than in other
sectors?
Women in Arts will develop this debate asking why some types of arts practice seem to sit
very comfortably with women, whist others represent challenges. Is it the case that women
work in a different way than men? Do women exert influence from a different place to men -
via networks, social media, by playing to strengths? Women in the Arts will celebrate both
arts practitioners and arts managers.
Participants:
Jane Adams (the Leader of Migrant Womens Integrated Project)
Mary Cloake (CEO of the Bluecoat)
Frances Disley (Print Studio Manager at the Bluecoat)
Sara Jayne Parsons (Exhibitions Curator at the Bluecoat)
Jo Stockham (Curator of The Negligent Eye, current exhibition at the Bluecoat)

10 - 5pm Exhibition in various spaces around the building
Hilda Tweedy: A link in the chain.
An exhibition by Dr Sonja Tiernan.

Hilda Tweedy established a pressure group to lobby for a fair distribution of food and fuel
during World War Two. The group later established links with the International Alliance of
Women and the United Nations campaign for gender equality. This exhibition demonstrates
the political impact of womens organisations and highlights key links in womens
international history.


10.30 - 4pm Stalls & Workshops in the Garden Room
Queen of the Track
Come and meet Queen of the Track, a new zine for women who will be exploring traditional
magazine making techniques.
Migrant Womens Integration Project
J oin Migrant Womens craft workshop.
Screen printing
The Bluecoats Print Studio will be demonstrating printing techniques and inviting people to
have a go themselves.


Kaleidoscope Collective
J oin the Kaleidoscope Collective, a group of artists who have met weekly to create arts to
improve their mental health & wellbeing.
Sensory Guided Tours by Liverpool Improvisation Collective
If you are interested in movement and improvisation, take part in Liverpool Improvisation
Collectives Sensory Guided Tours of the building.
Anna JayTurnbull & Alicia Talikowska
Creativity meets thoughts, join local artists Anna & Alicia to celebrate femininity.

Other stalls include:
South Liverpool Domestic Abuse Services / Sahir House Health, HIV / Savera
Domestic Violence / Forced marriage / Safe Place, NHS will be offering health checks
11am - 4pm Women in Business in Landbaby at the Bluecoat (front courtyard)
Pop in and meet Claire Bates who started her business on the grand sum of 50 to hear her
success story in creative business.
12 - 3pm Open Studios in the Intaglio and Screen Print Studios
1 - 2pm Storytelling in the Library
The Bluecoats resident storytellers will be offering affirmative stories of women in the world.
Come to listen, or to offer a story of your own.
1.30pm Sense of Sound Singers perform in the Hub

Dance performances in the Performance Space
4pm J ennifer Hale a solo performance by Taciturn Dance Company.

4.15pm Maxine Brown from Merseyside Dance Initiative: a holistic practice 'Mindfully
Balanced'