The United Nations Decade for Women (1985)
This poster is a fascinating piece of feminist, geopolitical, and design history. It advertises Forum ’85, a historic non-governmental gathering held in Nairobi, Kenya, in July 1985.
The Climax of the "UN Decade for Women"
The poster celebrates the culmination of the United Nations Decade for Women (1975–1985). The decade was launched after the first world conference on women in Mexico City (1975) and a mid-decade conference in Copenhagen (1980). The Nairobi event marked the grand finale of this ten-year global push to bring women's rights, equality, and development to the forefront of international policy.
A Passing of the Torch to the Global South
Holding the final conference in Nairobi was highly symbolic. It was the first UN world conference on women held in Africa (and the Global South).
Previous conferences had been heavily dominated by Western feminist agendas.
Nairobi shifted the global conversation drastically, forcing Western feminists to confront how issues like poverty, post-colonial economic structures, systemic debt, and anti-apartheid struggles were fundamentally intertwined with women's liberation.
The Power of "Forum ’85"
While the official UN conference was restricted to government diplomats, Forum ’85 (advertised on this poster) was the parallel NGO forum open to regular citizens and activists.
It was a massive success, attracting an estimated 14,000 women from all over the world to the University of Nairobi.
It created an unprecedented space for grassroots networking. For many historians, the real, lasting legacy of the 1985 Nairobi gathering happened at Forum '85, where ordinary women bypassed rigid Cold War-era government diplomacy to form global coalitions.
Graphic Design & Representation
The visual choices on this poster are historically telling:
The Logo: At the top is the official emblem of the UN Decade for Women—a stylized dove interlocked with the female gender symbol and an equal sign. It was designed by graphic artist Valerie Pettis to represent the decade's core themes: Equality, Development, and Peace.
The Photograph: Rather than using abstract art or a picture of high-ranking political elites, the poster prominently features a striking, intimate black-and-white photograph of a working African woman weaving. This was a deliberate choice to ground the global movement in the lived reality, labor, and resilience of everyday women in the Global South.
Birth of the "Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies"
The discussions at Forum '85 and the official conference led to the creation of the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women. This document provided a blueprint for global gender equality up to the year 2000 and directly paved the way for the famous 1995 Beijing Women’s Conference, where Hillary Clinton gave her historic "Women's rights are human rights" speech.
Torn; creased and worn.
420mm x 600mm
R3,000
