In 1991, Anita Hill started a national conversation on sexual harassment when she testified that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had subjected her to unwanted sexual advances years earlier. Today, Hill is a leader in the fight against gender-based violence.
A professor of social policy, law, and women’s studies at Brandeis University, Hill presented the 2023-24 Lorwin Lecture on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, held in partnership with the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics. The event was held May 9, 2024, as part of CSWS’s 50th anniversary celebrations. Hill was introduced by political science major Lierta Nako, president of the UO Undergraduate Law Association.
Below, University of Oregon students reflect on Hill’s talk about the perils and promises of this moment for feminism. For additional reflections, see our Anita Hill video on the CSWS YouTube channel.
Reflection by Mahnoor Ahmed, Department of Global Studies
As an international student from Pakistan, I didn’t have the opportunity to learn about Dr. Anita Hill until I started graduate school here at the University of Oregon. The more I learned about her and her journey, the more I felt compelled to take my space unapologetically. It was an honor to hear Dr. Hill talk about the civil rights and feminist movements in the United States, the unfortunate curtailment of existing freedoms, and the possibility and promise of a bright future ahead. In her talk, Dr. Hill highlighted the immense civic value of inclusion, emphasizing how truly democratic societies thrive when they integrate all their constituents. This concept deeply resonated with me, especially coming from a region where women’s exclusion from public and political spheres starkly undermines democratic ideals.
Dr. Hill discussed how all civic movements create new languages and frameworks. This is crucial for women in the Global South, as traditional Western feminist frameworks often overlook or misinterpret their unique challenges. This calls for the decolonization of knowledge construction and application, and an emphasis on localization of policies and practices. By advocating for a decolonization of feminist knowledge, we strive to create frameworks that are inclusive of the diverse experiences and struggles of women from different cultural, racial, and religious backgrounds. This approach not only broadens our understanding of the intersectionality within feminism but also ensures that it becomes more equitable and representative.
Additionally, Dr. Hill addressed the importance of deconstructing religio-cultural narratives to redefine what is culturally acceptable and expected. This aligns perfectly with a quote by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie that I truly believe in: “Culture does not make people. People make culture. If it is true that the full humanity of women is not our culture, then we can and must make it our culture.” We must be active in reshaping our cultures to fully acknowledge women’s humanity to realize true inclusion.
—Mahnoor Ahmed is an international graduate student completing a master’s degree in global studies in the School of Global Studies and Languages.
Reflection by Mira Coles, Clark Honors College
Anita Hill concludes her speech by citing the efforts of the many activists and organizations currently working to realize the dreams of intersectional equality (MeToo movement, Ramirez, Google employee walkout 2021, etc.). We have more knowledge, more resources, than ever before; progress has been made, but future complacency is not an option.
As I write this, the University of Oregon has agreed to meet, at least in part, several of the demands of the pro-Palestinian student protestors after 25 days of peaceful protesting in the encampments. The agency student protestors have exhibited nationwide demonstrates a key distinction of new generations stepping into the voting booths, noted by Anita Hill herself—the public has become more than alert, we are acutely attentive to ruling powers.
The culmination of my studies within the comparative literature department is a thesis on the application of écriture féminine, the idea that women must write themselves and by doing so can reclaim the body and history they have been robbed of. The original 1975 essay “Le Rire de la Méduse,” by French feminist critic Hélène Cixous, was updated in 2010 with a new introduction that identified Medusa (and thus Literature itself) as queer, further emphasizing a revolutionary and necessary break from the current order of hegemonic phallocentrism. A decade later, the iconography of Medusa was further adopted by the MeToo movement, reclaiming her image as emblematic of power, protection, and empowerment. Patriarchal sovereignty is being challenged more than ever before, thanks to creative ways we’re finding to challenge oppressive strictures and unify. Reclamation is not enough; we must go further and forge new paths for equality. The tools of the past evolve, and the single shout becomes polyphonous when we recognize that fights for equality are necessarily intersectional.
It’s easy, very easy, to dismiss the actions of others as useless—a mistake I’ve been guilty of myself. Administrations, restrictive academia, governments, or even one single, pathetic man—none of these seemingly impenetrable authoritative forces are easy to speak out against. But it is not a choice whether we engage with these conflicts; it’s a responsibility.
At its core, Anita Hill’s speech was against apathy. Against fatalism, futility, resignation. In what feels like an increasingly pessimistic world, her message is ultimately one of action, and therefore, it is one of hope.
—Mira Coles graduated magna cum laude this spring with a degree in comparative literature from the Clark Honors College, with minors in economics and French.
Reflection by Grace Denny, Department of History
Professor Hill explained the transformative impact of women rights advocates in the 1960s and 1970s to prohibit sex-based discrimination through federal legislation. Their utilization of the Fourteenth Amendment and unrelenting efforts led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the recognition of women under the law. This recognition led to equal access legally.
During my undergraduate history research into Pauli Murray, a Black civil rights activist, I explored how identity influences advocacy and ideas. Murray’s intersectional identity as a queer Black woman led her to establish the Fourteenth Amendment strategy of challenging the courts, as she was critical of boundaries that categorically separated people. Though the work of Murray and her feminist networks has changed the interpretation of the law, Professor Hill explained that equal access is not enough. It is not enough when, socially and legally, we fail to acknowledge residual discrimination.
Professor Hill’s talk illustrated the importance of the work that advocates before us have done while emphasizing where the work lies ahead, especially in the age of a conservative Supreme Court. While Students for Fair Admissions looked to correct residual discrimination, the Court ruled against it. In failing to recognize how exclusion is built into institutions, the Court’s near future looks bleak. However, Professor Hill was optimistic about our future. Her optimism struck me as she exclaimed, “Women have more power than ever before.”
I am grateful to Professor Hill, Pauli Murray, and all the women who have come before me for giving me the power to help the women of the future. Even in my 20 years of life, the perception of women and our capabilities has expanded, and will continue to do so. I am confident that with our knowledge of the past and our work in the present, the future looks bright.
—Grace Denny is an undergraduate pre-law history student at the University of Oregon.