- Location: University of Antwerp
- Venue: Klooster Grauwzusters
- Address: Lange Sint-Annastraat 7, Antwerp
- Detailed map of campus
- Date: from Thursday 2 till Friday 3 July 2026
Introduction
In our workshop we will explore the role of women in conservative political movements since the nineteenth century. To what extent is female involvement in right wing, nationalist and conservative movements a new phenomenon or can longer patterns and lineages be discerned? What were and are the motivations of women to take part in these movements and what are their strategies? Do they participate despite or because of the often explicitly patriarchal and masculinist rhetoric of these movements? How should we evaluate the impact female involvement has on right wing political movements?
In this workshop we aim to bring together approaches from the study of conservatism and the (radical) right with insights from gender and women’s history and politics. Our main focus is Europe and the countries that form today the European Union, but global perspectives are also welcome.
Fee
The cost for two day attendance are 40 EUR (25 EUR for a single day) for regular participants (PhD/Graduate/MA). Students attend the conference for free.
Programme: Thursday 2 July: Past and Present
- 9:30-10:00 Welcome & Introduction Organisers: (Henk de Smaele)
- 10.00-11:00 Keynote Lien Verpoest: 19th century (Introduction: Matthijs Lok)
- 11:00-11:15 Coffee
- 11:15-13:00 Panel I (Chair Puck Limburg) : Early Modern & Nineteenth century
- Geertje Bol (Gent/Oxford)(Postdoctoral researcher): Tory Women in Early Modern England
- Lauren Lauret (UD Leiden): Conservative colonial women in Dutch elite society, c. 1813-1913 (negentiende eeuw)
- Charris De Smet: Between conservatism and feminocentrism: the political engagement of the Thiery women as periodical editors (Paris, 1821-1835)
- Emma Post (promovendus) UvA: Maria Cristina Giustiniani Bandini (1866-1959),aristocratisch antifeminisme
- 13:00-14:00 Lunch Break
- 14:00-15:45 Panel II (Chair Marnix Beyen (Ginderachter)?): (inter) Wars (early twentieth century)
- B. Förster (Bielefeld: hoogleraar): Radical Nationalist Women During the Republic of Weimar
- Aliena Guggenberger (München: postdoctoral researcher): German Dress: Verein für Verbesserung der Frauenkleidung: eerste helft 20e eeuw
- Max Lokin (Maynooth: promovendus): Green Blouses for the Future: Gender Roles as a Temporal Strategy in Brazilian Integralism
- Julija Šuligoj (Ljubljana, promovendus): Slovene Home Guard (Slovensko domobranstvo) and its ideological construction of femininity
- 15:45-16:00 Tea Break
- 16:00-17:45 Panel III (Chair Anneke Ribberink: Postwar (1950s-1980s)
- M. Borri (Sienna: postdoctoraal onderzoeker): Movimento Italiano Femminile
- Winona Kamphausen (Luxemburg: promovendus), Conservative Female MEPs and Gendered Representation in the European Parliament (1958–1963
- Hedwig Richter (Bündeswehr München: hoogleraar: keynote?): The Housewife’s Body as Natural Idyll in Times of Crisispostwar order (ca. 1945–1977).
- Helena Tolvhed (hoogleraar: Department of History, Stockholm University): Between conservative ideology and the New Women’s Movement. Conservative women in 1970s and 1980s Swedish politics
- 19:30 Conference dinner
Programme: Friday 3 July: contemporary (historical) perspectives
- 09:30-10:30 Key note 2 Clarisse Berthezene (introduction: Josephine Hoegaerts)
- 10:30-11:00 Coffee break
- 11:00-12:30 Panel I (Chair Hanco Jürgens): 1980s/ 1990s / early 2000s
- Antonia Wegner (promovendus Freiburg): Redefining Conservatism through Gender: The US “Gender Gap” and Reagan’s Presidency
- Lisa Marie Freitag (Helmut Kohl Stiftung): Merkel as a conservative leader
- Yan BO (Beijing Baptist university): From Mao's Shadow to America's Bulwark: Chinese Émigré Women
- 12:30-13:30 Lunch Break
- 13:30-15.00 Panel II (Chair: Annelien de Dijn): Contemporary perspectives I
- Agnieszka Balcerak (München: From Motherhood to Mobilization: Kaja Godek as the Conservative Female Face of Poland’s Anti-Abortion Movement
- Gwenaëlle Bauvois (Helsinki): Far-right feminism France
- Annabel Daferner (Australia): Girl Boss Nationalism: Women in leadership positions in germany’s extreme right and anti-feminist party Alternative for Germany
- 15.00-15.15 Coffee break
- 15.15-16.00 Panel III (Chair: reserve) Contemporary perspectives II
- Tushara Meleppattu (promovendus Rome): Women and Right-wing Mobilization in India in the Backdrop of the Sabarimala Judge
- Dominika Zajączkowska (promovendus: Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland): Femininity and the Far Right: The Polish Tradwife Movement in Online Spaces
- 16:00-17:00 Conclusions (Henk/ Matthijs/ Josephine) and farewell
Accommodation
Follow the instructions in this order:
- Go to the online booking tool
- First enter your code UAACB19 (in capital letters) and click on ‘Search’
- Then enter the arrival and departure dates and click on ‘Search’
- You’ll see an overview of all available hotels and their Best Available Rate -10%, at that moment, including any cancellation conditions
- Choose a hotel and book your room
With thanks to the Antwerp Convention Bureau (ACB)
