The Feminist Identity of Willemijn Posthumus-Van der Goot (1897-1989)

Name of the project

The Feminist Identity of Willemijn Posthumus-Van der Goot (1897-1989)

Participants

Antia Wiersma ( antia.wiersma huygens.knaw.nl )

What are you currently working on? And how is a gender and diversity perspective important in your research?

Posthumus-Van der Goot is the first woman to hold a PhD degree in economics in the Netherlands (1930). She is also one of the founders of the International Archive of the Women’s Movement (IAV, 1935, currently called Atria). From the mid-1930s until the 1950s she was editor-in-chief of a radio show called ‘From woman to woman’ and in that capacity held great influence over women and their access to information. From a scientific standpoint she is an interesting figure because of her deviant views on femininity, highly regarding ‘true feminine behavior’. She is the only founder of the IAV about whom no scientific biography has been published. As her archives are currently in the process of being opened up, made accessible and digitized, this holds possibilities for new historical research which I intend to undertake.