Alumni Week: What if we listened more closely to the female body?
Monday 6 October | 17:30-18:30 | SPUI25
- Date
- 6 October 2025
- Time
- 17:30 -18:30
- Location
- SPUI25
Please note: this session is in Dutch.
During this live podcast event with an audience, host Doortje Smithuijsen - philosopher, journalist and creator of the podcast Old Girls Network - will discuss this topic with three inspiring guests.
Together, they expose blind spots - from activism to science, and from education to psychology - and outline the path towards greater equality in healthcare and beyond. Don’t miss this remarkable conversation during UvA Alumni Week!
Please note: The live recordings will start at 17:30. The doors will close at that time and entry will no longer be possible - so be sure to arrive on time!
Speakers
Rebecca Gomperts is a medical doctor and the founder of Women on Waves, Women on Web, and Aid Access - pioneering organisations that promote access to safe abortion and contraception worldwide. She has received numerous awards and was featured on the Time 100 list of the world’s most influential people.
Machteld Boonstra conducts research into the female heart during pregnancy. She demonstrates how knowledge about the female body is, quite literally, a matter of life and death.
Belle Barbé is a pedagogue specialising in sex education. She highlights how talking - or deliberately not talking - about sexuality can reinforce inequality or help to break it down.
Doortje Smithuijsen is a journalist, writer and documentary maker. She studied Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam and researches the impact of digitalisation on society. She writes for, among others, de Volkskrant, has made documentaries for VPRO and is known for podcasts such as VSR. Her pamphlet Kapitalisme is Seksisme (Capitalism is Sexism) became a bestseller.
