The Conferences

Mexico City,
1975

How “the greatest consciousness-raising moment in history” came together at the first-ever global women’s conference

How the Idea Was Born

The 1975 World Conference on Women in Mexico City was held at a time when women were demanding their rights across the globe, from the ūman ribu movement in Japan to France’s Manifesto of the 343 calling for free abortion and birth control. There was a sense of palpable momentum—with movements for economic rights, labor protections, and freedom from colonial rule proliferating.

During this period of flourishing and nascent women’s movements, the UN proclaimed 1975 International Women’s Year with plans for an associated world conference on women—although when it came to an actual women’s conference, “There was little interest among the permanent representatives and the professional diplomats…most of whom were men,” noted Leticia Ramos-Shahani, then a delegate for the Philippines. “They scoffed at the idea of [including] women in the international agenda alongside ‘more serious’ issues like disarmament” and more.

Scoffing aside, the UN Secretary-General appointed Helvi Sipilä—the first woman Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations—to organize and chair the World Conference of the International Women’s Year (later known as the First World Conference on Women). It would be held in Mexico City at a time when the Mexican government was beginning to roll out reforms that included a constitutional amendment guaranteeing gender equality and an “end to machismo.”

A heated exchange between a US feminist and a young activist in Mexico City in 1975. (via Professor Jocelyn Olcott, Duke University)

Planning Something That’s Never Been Done

What was arguably the most important convening of the ‘70s for women’s rights almost didn’t happen. Along with having to navigate Cold War politics and some diplomat disdain, conference organizers struggled with funding the event; writer Jocelyn Olcott would later note that their efforts had a “bake-sale feel.” But through government and philanthropic funding, individual donations from invested attendees and interest from grassroots women’s groups, a plan took shape: Delegates from around the world—and women’s rights advocates too—would convene from June 19 to July 2 in Mexico City.

The United States' Patricia Hutar, in green, addresses the opening session of the Mexico City conference. (via UN Photo)

Meet the Players

Attended by roughly 1,200 delegates representing 133 governments, and 6,000 women (and a few men) representing NGO groups, the conference was a hotbed of female leaders from around the world. Heads of state like Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, the world’s first-ever woman prime minister, rubbed shoulders with US feminist icons Betty Friedan and Bella Abzug. Where else could you find Iran’s Princess Ashraf Pahlavi—a chairwoman of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women—alongside Domitila Barrios de Chungara, the Bolivian labor leader?

Top: Iran's Mahnaz Afkhami at the Special Preparatory Committee in Mexico City. In Princess Ashraf's 1975 declaration to the UN, she asks the Heads of State to support the first UN World Conference on Women in Mexico City later that year.  (via Mahnaz Afkhami Personal Collection)
Bottom: Roughly 6,000 people—mostly women—came to Mexico City's NGO Forum from around the world. (via UN Photo)

What Happened in Mexico City

Described as the “greatest consciousness-raising event in history” by journalists at the time, the Mexico City conference was, as Mallica Vajrathon from Thailand called it, “a turning point for the future”; it helped lay the infrastructure for modern feminist organizing around the world. The centerpiece of the event was a two-week government conference made up of delegates who produced two key documents: The World Plan of Action and the Declaration of Mexico–the latter stated that all women shared unequal treatment.

Alongside the conference, though, was the more unofficial—and more raucous—International Women's Year Tribune, attended by non-governmental organizations and activists.

Jocelyn Olcott wrote that the Tribune “exploded the idea that feminism or even womanhood had a fixed meaning…it generated a far-reaching, decentered movement…In short, the free-wheeling, chaotic friction of NGO gatherings—what the New York Times described as ‘the scene of much shouting, scheming, plotting, and general hell-raising’—made the bigger splash, but they were only possible because of the structure, resources, and legitimacy that came with the UN conferences.”

Among those at the NGO forum in 1975: Legendary American activist Florynce Kennedy. (via UN Photo)

Delegates at the First World Conference on Women in Mexico City. (via Jewish Women's Archive)

Mrs. Alicia Romo Roman, Representative of Chile, making a statement. (via UN Photo)

President Luis Echeverría of Mexico presiding over the inauguration ceremony of the World Conference of the International Women’s Year in Mexico City. (via UN Photo)

Princess Ashraf meets Secretary-General of the United Nations Kurt Waldheim. (via Mahnaz Afkhami Personal Collection)

The World Conference of International Women's Year opened in Mexico City with women delegates outnumbering men six to one. (via UN Photo)

Libya's Farida Allaghi speaks at Mexico City. (via UN Photo)

A general view of the inauguration ceremony of the Conference. (via UN Photo)

Pedro Ojeda Paullada, President of the Conference, addressing delegates at the opening of the International Women’s Year Conference. (Left to right) UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, Conference Secretary Diego Cordovez, and Deputy Secretary-General Margaret K. Bruce. (via UN Photo)

There Were Challenges…

Gathering thousands of people from diverse backgrounds and experiences meant asking women with wildly divergent perspectives to find common ground. Much of the Tribune was shaped by the global atrocities of the time, including apartheid in South Africa, escalating violence in Israel and Palestine, and the then-recent U.S.-backed coup in Chile. Women of the West, East, and so-called “Third World” (later known as the Global South) had tense discussions about their priorities and lived experiences.

As Domitila Barrios de Chungara put it, addressing Global North feminists: “Señora, I’ve known you for about a week. Every morning you show up in a different outfit and on the other hand, I don’t.… I see that each afternoon you have a chauffeur in a car waiting at the door of this place to take you home, and yet I don’t.…Now, señora, tell me: is your situation at all similar to mine? Is my situation at all similar to yours? So, what equality are we going to speak of between the two of us?”

Through such frank dialogue, “Women learn[ed] about each other’s situation,” wrote Jamaican delegate Peggy Antrobus in her book The Global Women’s Movement. Women from richer countries “learned that sheer survival was a basic issue for the majority of the world’s poor women…And they learned that confrontation and anger are cathartic. Everyone’s view was heard.”

Top: Two women at the NGO forum that ran alongside the official conference in Mexico City. (via UN Photo)
Center: Mexican women protest outside of the First World Conference on Women. (via Getty Images) 
Bottom: Bolivian labor leader Domitila Barrios de Chungara.

…And There Were Victories

In Mexico City, 133 countries adopted the conference’s World Plan of Action, committing to a comprehensive series of policies to be enacted over the next 10 years—including measures to ensure equal access to education, increased employment opportunities for women, and “recognition of the economic value of women’s work in the home.” The conference also established the idea that so-called “women’s issues” were deeply intertwined with the economy, politics, and well-being of nations.

But its greatest victory may be what happened outside the negotiating chamber: Mexico City created an unprecedented space for women from different countries to connect across differences, and to learn from each other. It proved that a global women’s movement wasn’t just a naive dream—it could be a reality.

Libya's Farida Allaghi speaks at Mexico City. (via UN Photo)

The Legacy of Mexico City

The connection between women at Mexico City spurred multiple parallel legacy tracks: the growth of new women’s organizations, NGOs, and networks, and the blossoming of enduring and transformative friendships and relationships. Both would nurture and propel the global women’s movement to its present day. As Olcott later wrote in her book detailing the history of International Women’s Year, Mexico City “reshaped the landscape of feminisms around the world…a moment after which women would see their concerns as linked to a larger web of global issues and after which global policymakers could no longer ignore women.”