Women’s Written Experiences of Lockdown to Be Exhibited in House of Commons

The flagship event of a project that will showcase women’s written experiences of the first phase of the UK’s lockdown will launch at the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, on Wednesday 28 June 2023.

Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and led by Professor Lucie Armitt at the University of Lincoln, UK, the exhibit, “Rooms of Our Own: The Lockdown House” is a free-to-access exhibition that will provide visitors an opportunity to wander through digitalised rooms and gardens and take a glimpse into the distinct experiences of women whose lives were transformed through the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research is a multi-disciplinary collaboration between the University of Lincoln, Professor Sarah Pedersen of Robert Gordon University, and Professor Krista Cowman of the University of Leicester.

Lucie Armitt, Professor in Contemporary English Literature at the University of Lincoln, said: “With the COVID-19 Inquiry underway, the specific impact of lockdown on UK women remains insufficiently explored.

“Our project captures the thoughts and experiences of women writers and women who would not self-identify as writers, driven by lockdown to write diaries, social media posts, poetry, and fiction about lockdown. In its entirety the project captures, for posterity, a moment in women’s history that might otherwise disappear.”

The pieces in the exhibition explore a variety of concerns, from home-schooling and home working to relationships and domestic violence. Written submissions are enhanced by supporting interviews, photographs, film, and social media content from authors, bloggers, poets and journalists.

When the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was confirmed as a pandemic in early 2020, followed by a UK lockdown, statistics showed that women were disproportionately affected by the competing demands of work, childcare and home-schooling, adversely affecting their well-being and creativity. This exhibition will demonstrate that lockdown, frequently considered a universal event, was actually a gendered experience.

The event will be held in The Churchill Room on Wednesday 28 June and is hosted by Giles Watling MP, Chair of the All-Party Writers Group at the House of Commons. Baroness Gillian Merron, House of Lords will also speak at the event.