Battling “Big Sister” Government: Hoosier Women and the Politics of International Women’s Year

The national celebration of International Women’s Year (IWY) in 1977 amounted to a showdown between the two grassroots, political behemoths of the late twentieth century, the conservative and the second wave feminist movements. At the state level, IWY events provided the perfect platform for Hoosier women to protest the political direction of their country, specifically gender sameness and the growth of distant governments, which worked in tandem to create a homogenized, global community of which they wanted no part. This article uncovers the voices of grassroots Hoosier women and details their protest of IWY as part of an attempt by the United Nations to institute one-world government.