Gender, the State, and the 1977 International Women’s Year Conference

FAIN: FS-250826-16

University of Houston (Houston, TX 77204-3067)
Nancy Beck Young (Project Director: February 2016 to December 2019)

A one-week seminar for sixteen college and university teachers on the National Women’s Conference of 1977 and its impact on American public life.

We propose to host a one-week summer seminar for college and university instructors, which explores the only federally funded policy convention devoted to women's issues. The National Women's Conference of 1977 provides an opportunity to study the juncture of gender, party politics, and the state in the late 20th century. Gender dynamics shifted alongside changes in cultural attitudes, institutional barriers, workplace practices, and political behavior. The conference offers a fresh vantage point through which to study the 1970s, a pivotal but understudied decade. This seminar will unpack the influences on and legacy of the conference. The seminar is designed to bring into conversation a broad range of political, legal, economic, and socio-cultural historiography, which we will read and discuss with the seminar participants. The seminar content will also draw together regional and transnational themes, and engage digital and public history alongside traditional methodology.