Emancipation, Cold War Diplomacy, and Socialist Internationalism at the 1975 World Congress of Women in East Berlin

In her PhD project, Lea Börgerding explores the role of women’s transnationalism for relations between Eastern Europe and the Global South from the 1960s to the 1980s. Her research focuses the 1975 International Women’s Year and the World Congress of Women, which took place in October 1975 in East Berlin. Tracing different delegations and activists at the world congress – from the Vietnam Women’s Union to the All-African Women’s Federation and the Chilean diaspora in East Germany, she explores the intersection between anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist, socialist agendas and demands for women’s emancipation during decolonization and the Cold War. She also highlights the political tensions, power relations, and silences that shaped the women’s gathering in East Berlin. Who could reach out to the women of the world? And how was the world congress communicated to the world, and by whom? As such, Lea Börgerding aims at contributing to ongoing scholarly discussions about new histories of internationalism in the 20^th century, socialist globalisation between Eastern Europe and the global South as well as connections between gender and global history.