About Our Oral History Project

Use the filters on our BROWSE THE LEARNING CENTER page to explore our Oral History Project. 

WLP has collected hundreds of hours of diverse, multilingual materials and recordings pertaining to the global movements for peace, democracy, and women’s human rights with the goal of preserving the stories and lessons of women’s rights activists from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America who have left their mark on the struggle for women’s advancement. Our Oral History Archive of the Global Women’s Movement (Oral History Project) contains extensive interviews with prominent and grassroots women’s rights activists who discuss formative events in their personal lives and their eye-witness accounts of history in the making. 

The extraordinary women who are participating in our Oral History Project have worked across religions, cultures, and regions to advance the global women’s movement. Among them are academics, civil servants, journalists, lawyers, poets, politicians, sociologists, trade unionists, UN officials, and writers. Their accounts create a portrait of the diverse circumstances, lifestyles, and aspirations of feminists from across the globe who have pursued a common goal. The recordings and materials capture pivotal moments of gender consciousness, and cultural practices, conflicts, and struggles. Interviewees’ reflections on their early memories and influences provide additional context while they connect their stories to broader events in history.

To date, WLP has collected dozens of oral histories from women in Algeria, Bahrain, Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Turkey, United States of America, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe. 

Each oral history account includes the following corresponding documents:  

  • Interview summary sheet providing date, location, length, and sound specifications of the interview 
  • Full transcript of the interview with footnotes and translation of non-English words 
  • Time-coded content summary highlighting the main themes, organizations, and people discussed
  • Release form 
  • Photographed portrait
  • Brief biography

WLP’s Oral History Project was featured in the Spring 2014 edition of the Oral History Society Journal, and The British Library’s National Life Stories Review and Accounts 2014/2015.

The WLP Oral History Project is housed at the British Library Sound Archive, London, United Kingdom, with parallel printed and digital collections maintained at WLP’s office in Bethesda, MD, USA. For more information, please consult our Oral History Archive of the Global Women’s Movement Terms of Use.