Archive project documents women’s experiences of pandemic

Sheffield Feminist Archive has this week launched a project that aims to document women’s experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Women in Lockdown will collect written and audio-recorded submissions for a digital archive of “how women’s lives and feminisms have been altered during this world-historical moment”.

“By providing an uncensored outlet for narratives of female empowerment, oral history is an important exercise in counterweighting history’s predominantly masculinised record”, the group said.

“And when we find mutual experience and understanding in collective feminist testimony, we are all the more empowered as a collective.”

Submissions will not be limited in scope, but the group anticipates material that explores politics, activism, wellbeing, caring responsibilities, work and more. Participants can ask for their submissions to be anonymised or pseudonymised.

Founded in 2015, Sheffield Feminist Archive is a community archive project that works closely with Sheffield City Archives. It says its approach to feminism is intersectional, encompassing “all self-defining women, including trans+ women.”

Throughout Women’s History Month this March, the Archive has been highlighting important women who have shaped the history of Sheffield through its #WomenMakeSheffield Twitter campaign.

Those in the spotlight have included Gertrude Wilkinson, one of the first women to sit on Sheffield City Council, and Ethel Haythornthwaite, an environmental campaigner who set up the Peak District and South Yorkshire branch of what is now known as the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).

Anyone who is interested in contributing to the Women in Lockdown project can email [email protected] or visit the Sheffield Feminist Archive website for more information. The first deadline for submissions is 25 June.