womeninmuseum (Network)
type=project
The network womeninmuseum is a loose union of Women’s Museums, initiatives and museums dedicated to women.
There are 50 women’s and gender museums and 14 women’s museums initiatives in different countries nowadays. These museums are very important for gender informing and education of people, for improving of role women in society, for implementation of equal rights and opportunities. The activities of these museums are quite various. They support different women’s art, tell the history of women of their country and support scientific projects. But information about their acitivity is unknown for the wide public. Today some of these museums began to consolidate their efforts and look for the possibilities of cooperation and interaction.
The network was created at the 1st International Women’s Museums Congress in June 2008 in Merano, during which the institutions passed a resolution encapsulating the concept of the «Women’s Museum» and defining their common objectives.
The network womeninmuseum its tasks as follows:
to increase the visibility and acceptance of Women’s Museums
to actively support each other
to make use of the internet plattform in order to push ahead the work of network
In September of 2009 the second International Congress of Women’s museums took place (Bonn, Frauenmuseum). 18 projects of women’s museum from different countries were represented. The printed catalogue of these projects was published by Frauenmuseum. It was very useful for all participants of Congress for their further activity.
The next step – the third International Congress of Women’s museum took place in Argentina, Buenos Aires, 2010 and we decided to found an international organisation 2012 and want to have an afiliated membership with ICOM.
In the meantime a global coordination committee was founded, with delegates from each continent.
Coordinator: Astrid Schönweger, Merano
From Australia: Helen Jaraslafsky, National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame/Australia
From Africa: Omima Mustafa, Sudanes Women’s Museum, Omdurman/Sudan and Rachel Mamba, Musée de la Femme Central Africa
From Asia: Heaseung Kim, feminist art group (association which presently runs the Women’s History Exhibition Hall/Seoul Korea)
From South America: Graciela Tejero Coni, Museo de la Mujer, Buenos Aires/Argentina
From North America: Catherine King, San Francisco, USA
From Europe: Bettina Bab, Women’s Museum, Bonn/Germany
If you have news regarding the network or you need further informations, please contact: infowomeninmuseum [dot] net