The Women's Classical Committee UK (WCC) is a group of academics, students, and teachers who aim to support women in Classics, promote feminist and gender-informed perspectives in Classics, raise the profile of the study of women in antiquity and Classical reception, and advance equality and diversity in Classics.

History and aims

The WCC was formed in 2015, on

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

, at the

Institute of Classical Studies The Institute of Classical Studies is a research institution associated with the University of London and a member of the School of Advanced Study. The institute is a national and international research institute in the languages, literature, hi ...

, London. It was inspired by the

Women's Classical Caucus The Women's Classical Caucus, Inc. (WCC) is an affiliate of the American Philological Association, the organization for North American scholars and teachers of Greek and Latin language, literature, and culture (known as "classicists"), Greek and Ro ...

in the United States and the Society for Women in Philosophy UKbr>(SWIP
. Membership of the WCC is open to all genders. The first chairpersons of the WCC were Victoria Leonard and

Helen Lovatt Helen V. Lovatt is Professor of Classics at the University of Nottingham. She is known in particular for her work on Latin epic literature especially from the Flavian period. Career Lovatt studied at Millfield and then read Classics at Pem ...

. The WCC held its launch event, 'Women in Classics: Past, Present and Future', at the

on 11 April 2016. The WCC held its 2017

annual general meeting An annual general meeting (AGM, also known as the annual meeting) is a meeting of the general membership of an organization. These organizations include membership associations and companies with shareholders. These meetings may be required ...

on 20 April 2017 at the Ioannou Centre,

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. The theme was 'Diversity in Classics'. The second WCC AGM was held at the

again in April 2018, on the theme of activism with feminist classicists

Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz is a classical scholar, specialising in ancient Greek literature and Intersectionality, intersectional feminism. Career Sorkin Rabinowitz graduated from City College of New York and received her Ph.D. from University of Ch ...

and Donna Zuckerberg (editor of online magazin
Eidolon
as guest speakers.

Activities

The first major event the WCC organised was 'Classics and Feminist Pedagogy: Practical Tips for Teaching', which took place at the University of Birmingham on 29 July 2016. The WCC has organised careers advice workshops for early- and mid-career academics, and an alternative careers in and around classics event. In September 2017 the WCC organised an event on bullying and harassment in classics hosted by the

University of Roehampton The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. The University traces its r ...

. The WCC has organised a panel of papers at the 2017

Classical Association The Classical Association (CA) is an educational organisation which aims to promote and widen access to the study of Classics, classical subjects in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1903, the Classical Association supports and advances classical ...

Conference at the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

and the Classical Association Conference at the University of Leicester. It has sponsored two

round table The Round Table (; ; ; ) is King Arthur's famed table (furniture), table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status, unlike co ...

discussions on

feminist pedagogy Feminist pedagogy is a pedagogical framework grounded in feminist theory. It embraces a set of epistemological theories, teaching strategies, approaches to content, classroom practices, and teacher-student relationships. Feminist pedagogy, along w ...

at the 2017

International Medieval Congress The International Medieval Congress (IMC) is an annual academic conference held for scholars specializing in, or with an interest in, the study of the European Middle Ages (c. 300–1500). It is organised and administered by the Institute for Med ...

at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

, and sponsored a double panel on empresses from

Late Antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

at the International Medieval Congress 2018.

Activism

The WCC organises monthly remote Wikipedia editing sessions in order to continue to reverse the gender skew online and to mobilise change through digital tools as well as providing a positive example for others. Occasional group editing sessions are organised to bring people together to edit to improve the representation of women classicists on Wikipedia, often with training sessions delivered by trainers from the Wikimedia foundation. By June 2017, the WCC had added thirty-nine articles on female classicists to Wikipedia. In 2018, the WCC wrote to the organisers of the 2019 Fédération internationale des associations d'études classiques and

joint conference, criticizing their discouragement of proposals for all-female as well as all-male panels (also known as 'manels'). Their activism in this regard caused the organisers to revise their policy, stating that 'Following feedback and discussion we accept that we were wrong to initially discourage all women panels'. In recognition of their efforts towards gender fairness and inclusivity in the field of

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

, the organisation was invited to be a nominating body for the 2021 UK

Research Excellence Framework The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a research impact evaluation of British Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is the successor to the Research Assessment Exercise and it was first used in 2014 to assess the period 2008–2013. REF is ...

assessment.

References

External links

Women's Classical Committee Website

Editing a Fairer Wikipedia: The Women’s Classical Committee Editathon
{{Authority control Academic organisations based in the United Kingdom Feminist organisations in the United Kingdom Classical associations and societies

History and aims

Activities

Activism

See also

References

External links