“Day of Black Women’s Friendships”, Vrouwencultuurgroep ROSA, Utrecht, 1986, design: Mora h. s. Ducastel. Source: Collection IAV-Atria
![[International Women’s Day 1985], Hollanda Türkiye Kadinlar Birligi, design: unknown. Source: Collection IAV-Atria](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcmsfiles.nieuweinstituut.nl%2F7zfgyfpf7erc5addp9n6bz43ey0xwbrq_0ffb7d2d65.jpeg&w=1920&q=75)
[International Women’s Day 1985], Hollanda Türkiye Kadinlar Birligi, design: unknown. Source: Collection IAV-Atria
![[Women Call Women 020-250150], Vrouwen Bellen Vrouwen Foundation, 197?, design: Trudi van Tilborgh. Source: Collection IAV-Atria](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcmsfiles.nieuweinstituut.nl%2Fa4fxwj3ucpm55mmjr5rfetuygrgqxxu8_d846721f74.jpeg&w=1920&q=75)
[Women Call Women 020-250150], Vrouwen Bellen Vrouwen Foundation, 197?, design: Trudi van Tilborgh. Source: Collection IAV-Atria
For many feminist collectives, initiatives, workgroups and foundations, it was (and still is) important to find horizontal organisational working structures. That is: to avoid hierarchies which allow abuse of power.
The aim of a feminist work ethic is that every task and role is to be taken seriously and equally valued. Going through archives, we often find no direct links to authors of a text, or designers of a poster linked to the feminist movements. While in some cases it might have been simply forgotten to sign the work, it can also be read as a political stance: instead of naming individual authors - be it of a text, a poster or an action - it's the feminist group, or even the movement at large, that leaves a collective signature. This emphasises the importance of collaboration and multivocality as a feminist value and can also function as a protection when a difficult issue is addressed or a brave feminist action taken.
![[50 Years Archive For The Women’s Movement] by IAV Internationaal Archief voor de Vrouwenbeweging in Amsterdam, 1985, design: Wild Plakken / Lies Ros, Rob Schröder, Frank Beekers. Source: International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcmsfiles.nieuweinstituut.nl%2F1apn1rt7dkhjw30x77v07wet096gazuq_8b7a5cdff5.jpeg&w=1920&q=75)
[50 Years Archive For The Women’s Movement] by IAV Internationaal Archief voor de Vrouwenbeweging in Amsterdam, 1985, design: Wild Plakken / Lies Ros, Rob Schröder, Frank Beekers. Source: International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam)
Archives
The archival material used for this section includes:
Poster "Zwarte vrouwenvriendschappendag" (FDS_IMG096)
Atria-IAV, affiche
Poster "Vrouw grijp houvast, verbeter die baan." (FDS_IMG086)
International Institute of Social History, IISG
This project was made possible thanks to:
