Leeds embraces International Women’s Day

THIS Friday marks International Women’s Day (IWD) and there are plenty of events across Leeds to mark the occasion.
CELEBRATING: The Queens of Industry exhibition is just one of the events to mark IWD across Leeds.CELEBRATING: The Queens of Industry exhibition is just one of the events to mark IWD across Leeds.
CELEBRATING: The Queens of Industry exhibition is just one of the events to mark IWD across Leeds.

Leeds City Museum is hosting an exhibition, that runs until early July, that looks at the Women’s Liberation Movement.

Feminist Archive North holds a rich assortment of material collected from the early 1970s onwards.

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It includes over 1,000 periodicals; oral histories; textiles and ephemera which have all been donated by organisations and individuals.

The archive is housed within Special Collections at the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The material can be viewed on request and is widely used by students, academics and activists, for research and general interest.

Elsewhere, Leeds Industrial Museum will celebrate the untold stories of women in industry during the 20th century.

Visitors can discover the working class ‘queens’ elected to represent some of Britain’s greatest industries, from coal to cotton.

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From the 1920s to 1980s, Queens of Industry flew the 
flag for their industry, county or even country and these young workers’ lives were changed forever, with opportunities to star on screen, meet political figures like Joseph Stalin and simply become a female voice for their industry.

Elsewhere across the city, there is an IWD quiz at North Brewing Co. on March 8, tickets £5 whilst on March 7 Armley Library hosts an ‘Empowering Women with Tech’ event.