Book IWD Speaker: Lucy Purdon

From Dresses to Deepfakes: A revealing keynote delving into the novel ways in which women’s images and data have been used throughout history, and why it matters today.

In this special International Women’s Day 2026 presentation, Lucy weaves together a series of striking, often overlooked examples of how women’s bodies, faces, and voices have been captured, repurposed, and exploited by technological systems long before AI entered the field.

Through four tightly linked case studies - from the 16th‑century “surveillance dress” of Elizabeth I, the 1880s “Unknown Woman of the Seine” death‑mask, Henrietta Lacks’s HeLa cells, and the hidden labour of women's images and voice in developing cutting edge technology- Lucy highlights what we can learn from these examples going forward in order to forge a future anchored in justice and empowerment of women through better technology policy, products and design.

Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding and perspective of how historic practices inform today’s algorithmic bias and privacy risks for women and recognise the long‑standing continuum of the exploitation of women’s images and data in the name of technological progress.

You will be thinking about this talk long after it has ended!

Lucy is the Director of Courage Everywhere, a consultancy focused on gender justice, policy & innovation to advance technology for the benefit of all women. She has worked for over a decade at the intersection of technology and human rights and has campaigned for a plethora of digital and women's rights: from better protections for women’s health data to the removal of marketing companies from maternity wards.  In the face of complex technological ecosystems and fatigue when it comes to working out how to protect our privacy, Lucy is on a mission to answer the million dollar question: What can we do?

Lucy is a frequent public speaker and media commentator. See a selection of her talks at https://www.courage‑everywhere.com/videos

Format & Length: A 45‑minute presentation followed by a 15‑minute Q&A session.

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