KarenSkarpnes
Ms.Skarpnes
CFUW
Educating Outside the Classroom: Women's Museums Empowering Girls and Women, 12 March 2024 7:30pm(CET) Parallel Event
GWI
Education and training of women, Women and poverty, Institutional mechanisms
SDG4 – Quality Education, SDG5 – Gender Equality, SDG9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, SDG 10 – Reduced Inequality
Diversity in Teacher Education (2019), Building Peace through Women’s Education (2019), Securing increased Domestic Funding for Education to include equal and safe access to Digital Learning (2022)
During Women's History Month last October our local club sponsored two female speakers to present on "Museums Then and Now". One presenter was a Snuneymuxw Elder with over 20 years of collaboration with a local museum and the other a recently retired museum curator and university professor. Their message was shared by the presenters today. Who's voice has been missing in recorded history as expressed in museums? How can we promote opportunities to have all voices fairly represented?
Shirley Gillet chaired the session giving an overview of the global picture of Women's Museums, both virtual and physical. Museums are a public good. Even so, funding is a perennial challenge. Nesrin Koc from Turkey spoke of how the Istanbul Virtual Women's Museum opened in 2012 has been a counter to male dominated narratives and contributed to the memory of women. She also highlighted the important impact of four other museums and emphasized how vital Women's Museums are for progress. Confidence Dikgole from South Africa spoke of how South Africa has evolved from its pre 1994 era and about the heroines who have contributed to the new SA. She spoke of Voices of Women Museum in Durban, the Living Archive with 3000 embroidered cloths, Women's Living Heritage Monument. Genevieve Adukpo from Ghana spoke of the museums exposing the conditions of the slave trade with an emphasis on the women's shocking experiences. She also spoke of women chiefs and Queens and women's contribution to economic development, transformative leadership and preservation of cultural values. Patricia Galliano from Mexico gave an overview of Mexican women's struggles to gain citizenship and the right to vote and sit in government as represented in the Women's Museum in Mexico City. She gave more highlights on a room by room overview. Shirley Randall from Australia titled her presentation of Her Place. Her Places included house museums of prominent colonial women as well as Fighting with our Tongues by Indigenous women. It was followed by a Q & A.
The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action highlights the need to learn more about all peoples history and way of knowing. The session today on Women's Museums advanced a different narrative from the global colonial male dominant point of view. It is a hopeful change for women and girls.
Our viewing group from today in partnership with our First Nations colleagues are planning tours of our local museums in the near future to see how they are incorporating the broader human story. We plan to report back to our membership on our findings and lobby for change is necessary.
