Women and Non-Alignment in the Cold War era: biographical and intersectional perspectives

Introduction

WO-NAM will provide crucial insights into the history of women’s participation in the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War era, studying the roles of female leaders, women’s movements, and women’s organizations.

Research Objectives

It will redefine existing interpretations of Cold War history and historiography by conducting groundbreaking research on the significance of Non-Aligned networks in shaping transnational debates on women’s rights within international institutions.

Research Questions

The project will answer the following research questions:

1. What was the role of female activists and leaders within the Non-Aligned Movement?
2. How did women’s organizations contribute to nation-building, modernization, and development in their respective Non-Aligned countries?
3. What was the significance of the Non-Aligned Movement in transnational Cold War debates on women’s rights before and during the UN Decade for Women (1975–1985)?
4. How did women’s internationalism within the Non-Aligned Movement contribute to an intersectional vision of women’s rights, which viewed women’s oppression as inseparable from wider global inequalities?

Methodology

WO-NAM will draw on rich and diverse archival collections on women’s activism in its focus on the case studies of Yugoslavia, Egypt, Tunisia, India, and Cuba.

Research Strands

It will have four research strands:

• Female leaders and activists’ biographies
• Grassroots and state-sponsored women’s organizations
• International conferences at UN and NAM level
• Transnational knowledge production

Significance

In taking Non-Aligned women’s networks as its vantage point, WO-NAM will be the first project to address how female leaders and activists from the Global East and the Global South intervened in a variety of international institutions that were part of, or affiliated to, the United Nations, in order to shape ongoing debates on women’s rights, family planning, and development.