In Memoriam - Geertje Lycklama à Nijeholt (1938 – 2014)

The African Studies Centre Leiden is saddened by the news that Professor Geertje Lycklama à Nijeholt died in the early hours of Tuesday 18 November 2014. Geertje (born in Lollum on 2 April 1938) was a member of the ASC Board of Governors from May 1997 – April 2005.
Geertje’s commitment to women and gender equality was reflected in her professional career, through which she made a major contribution to women’s work, feminist organizations, gender policies and the institutional strengthening of research and teaching in women and gender studies.

After studying Western sociology at VU University Amsterdam and completing a PhD in 1976 at the same university (thesis: Migratory and Nonmigratory Farm Workers on the East Coast of the United States), Geertje worked as coordinator of International Women's Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as a professor of Gender and Women's Studies at Wageningen University. From 1983 to 1990 she worked at ISS (International Institute of Social Studies) as a professor in Women and Development. In 1990 she became the Rector of ISS for a period of five years, after which she worked as a part-time professor of Women and Development, until 1999.

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  Photo of a meeting of the ASC Board of Governors on 20-09-2002: 
  Elizabeth Schmitz,Geertje Lycklama à Nijeholt, Max van den Berg, 
  Manuela Monteiro and Egbert Wits.

From 1995 to 2003 Geertje Lycklama à Nijeholt was a member of the Dutch Senate for the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA), the Dutch Labour Party. She was involved in the portfolios on foreign policy, development cooperation and higher education. In addition to her formal positions, she was active in many boards and committees such as the board of Women’s World Banking, Clingendael (a Dutch think tank on international relations), and the Consultative Committee of the United Nations Development Fund for Women. She served on the Board of supervisors of the University of Groningen until her death.

In 1992 Geertje Lycklama à Nijeholt was awarded the prestigious Aletta Jacobs Prize in recognition of her work for and with women. In 1995, she was knighted in the order of the Dutch lion.

We mourn the passing of a great person. Our thoughts are with her husband and two children.

A selection of her key publications:
Migratory and Nonmigratory Farm Workers on the East Coast of the United States, thesis, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, G. Lycklama à Nijeholt, 1976.

Towards Women's Strategies for the 1990s Challenging Government and the State, edited by G. Lycklama à Nijeholt, London: Macmillan, 1991.

The Trade in Domestic Workers, Causes, Mechanisms and Consequences of International Migration, edited by Noeleen Heyzer, Geertje Lycklama à Nijeholt, Nedra Weerakoon, London: Zed Books, September 1994.

Women's Movements and Public Policy in Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, Geertje Lycklama à Nijeholt, Virginia Vargas and Saskia Wieringa (eds.), New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1998.

A ‘feestschrift’ in her honour was published in 2006: Feestschrift for G. Lycklama à Nijeholt: Engendering Human Security: Feminist Perspectives, eds T. Truong, S. Wieringa, A. Chhachhi, Zed Press, 2006.

If you would like to share a memory about Geertje Lycklama à Nijeholt, please visit the website of ISS.

ASC Leiden, based on ISS website, 20 November 2014