Women’s Rights Are Human Rights is a very fitting title for an exhibition of Women’s rights and advocacy posters, as it is a term used in the women’s rights movement and was the title of an important speech given by Hillary Rodham Clinton at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. In her speech, Hillary Clinton suggests that “if the term ‘women’s rights’ were to be interchangeable with the term ‘human rights’ the world community would be a better place because human rights affect the women who raise the world’s children, care for the elderly, run companies, work in hospitals, fight for better education and better health care.”
Yet gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society. Women lack access to decent work and face occupational segregation and gender wage disparities. Women are often denied access to basic education and health care, and suffer from violence and discrimination, and are under-represented in political and economic decision-making processes.
This exhibition features posters created by both men and women to celebrate and acknowledge the vital role that all citizens should play in protecting and promoting human rights while challenging gender inequality and stereotypes, advancing sexual and reproductive rights, and protecting women and girls against brutality. These posters promote women’s empowerment and participation in society while challenging religious and cultural norms and patriarchal attitudes that subordinate, stigmatize or restrict women from achieving their fullest potential. In their collective visual voice, these posters are designed to jolt the viewer’s sense of collective responsibility to challenge prevailing attitudes toward gender inequality and discrimination, while provoking both a healthy discomfort and empathetic response in the viewers.
Organized and curated by Elizabeth Resnick, Professor Emerita, Graphic Design, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, Massachusetts USA.
Blurb
Women’s Rights Are Humans Rights: International Posters on Gender-based Inequality, Violence, and Discrimination is an exhibition that features posters created by both men and women to celebrate and acknowledge the vital role that all citizens play in protecting and promoting human rights while challenging gender inequality and stereotypes, advancing reproductive and sexual rights, protecting women and girls against brutality, and promoting women’s empowerment, education, and participation in society. The posters argue for the empowerment of women, the achievement of equality between women and men, and the elimination of discrimination against women and girls.
I, Maria Papaefstathiou owner of the Graphic Art News and also known as It’s Just Me, was honoured to have been invited to participate in the poster project Women’s Rights Are Human Rights with my poster Breast Cancer, Early Detection. The project has traveled to the world thanks to Elizabeth’s zeal and the amazing team of designers she selected for the project.
Women’s Rights Are Human Rights
Exhibition Schedule as of March 16, 2019
Taiwan
University Gallery, Taiwan National University, Taipei
May 14–May 22, 2016 (50 posters)
USA
President’s Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston
September 26–October 29, 2016 (48 posters)
Mexico
Outside on the Plaza, San Luis Potosi
September 26–October 7, 2016 (50 posters)
Greece
Design Toolkit Conference in Thessaloniki
October 8–12, 2016 (50 posters)
Korea
Namseoul University Gallery
November 21–December 2, 2016 (50 posters)
Art Center Gallery, Seoul
December 28–January 9, 2017 (50 posters)
USA
Gallery 360, Northeastern University Boston
March 1–April 17, 2017 (45 posters)
Poland
Warsaw Poster Museum, Wilanow
April 28–October 30, 2017 (84 posters + 21 posters from their archive)
USA
Archeworks Gallery, Chicago
September 14–October 8, 2017 (57 posters)
USA
University Gallery, Illinois Wesleyan University
January 15–February 22, 2018 (50 posters)
Poland
Galicia Jewish Museum Krakow
March 13, 2018 (80 posters)
San Marino
Designing Civic Consciousness conference
Conference Center gallery, San Marino
May 28 –June 1, 2018 (95 posters projected)
USA
University Gallery, William Paterson University New Jersey
September 10–December 12, 2018 (35 posters)
USA
University Gallery, Ohio Northern University Ohio
October–December 2018 (95 posters)
USA
University Gallery, York College of PA Pennsylvania
October 2018 (35 posters)
USA
Art & Design Gallery, Chalmers Hall, Kansas University
January 20–31, 2019
SPAIN
La Sala Cuarto Espacio de Zaragoza (The Fourth Space, Zaragoza)
March 8–April 30, 2019 (60 posters plus projection)
Center of Art and Exhibitions at Ejea de los Caballeros
May 17–June 30, 2019 (60 posters plus projection)
SCOTLAND
EAD2019 (European Academy of Design) conference
hosted by the University of Dundee
April 10–12, 2019 (100 posters projected)
