Women's Season

Pioneers: Trailblazing women in the arts, sciences and society

Online exhibition Pioneers highlights the lives and achievements of 8 remarkable European women in the arts, sciences and society. From groundbreaking women’s rights campaigners to brilliant scientists, this exhibition celebrates the historical contribution of innovative women to human knowledge and culture. On 18th of January til International Women’s Day on 8 March 2019, we published a new exhibition chapter every week telling the story of a female pioneer.  It's the stories of brilliant women from across Europe, both famous and less well-known, from the 16th to the 20th centuries.

In collaboration with Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, this online exhibition which was part of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel’s strategy to empower women and increase their participation in the digital economy. Pioneers seeks to raise awareness of women’s historical contributions to society and provide a platform for the representation of emblematic professional women in Europe.

• Chapter 1 Maria Skłodowska-Curie
• Chapter 2 Maria Sibylla Merian
• Chapter 3 Sofonisba Anguissola
• Chapter 4 Aletta Jacobs
• Chapter 5 Madame de Staël
• Chapter 6 Amalia Lindegren
• Chapter 7 Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu
• Chapter 8 Dora Gabe

Women in culture and tech

On Europeana Pro, we are ran a series of profiles and interviews with leading women in the digital and GLAM sectors, highlighting their work and achievements. The series is entitled Women in Culture and Technology and featured interviews with women from across sectors and across the world - including, tech expert and founder of DigiPippi (an organisation which bridges the gender gap in technology) Eva Fog and renowned multi-disciplinary artist Nora Al-Badri.

• Eva Fog, founder of tech organisation DigiPippi (and much, much more)

• Isla Haddow-Flood and Florence Devouardof Wiki Loves Women

• Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight, academic, Wikipedian and champion of 'impractical' girls

• Nora Al-Badri, media artist and activist

• Siobhan Leachman,Citizen scientist and wikimedian

• Medhavi Gandhi, leader in arts preservation and digital access

• Petra Kammerevert, Member of European Parliament

• Sandra Fauconnier,art historian and GLAM project officer

• Silvia Gutiérrez,digital humanities librarian

• Scann, digital cultural heritage and copyright expert

• Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society

Blogs, news pieces and galleries

We promoted and featuried 14 blogs, five galleries, and two news pieces on Pro. All created by members of Europeana and partner institutions. 

Blogs

• #ColorOurCollections – our new colouring book about women in history

• Carving a place for women on statues

• #5WomenArtists: celebrating female artists from across Europe

• The story of Monopoly: how Charles stole Lizzie’s idea and made his fortune

• Five of the finest (anti-)heroines from European literature

• Josephine Baker – dancer, spy and freedom fighter

• Pola Negri: Woman of the World

Guest Blogs

• Elsa Schiaparelli: Declaring Feminine Willpower through Fashion

• Madame de Staël: from the Enlightenment to the Dawn of Romanticism

• A life devoted to art – Olga Boznańska

• Queen of Arts: Christina of Sweden’s Roman reign

• The world was her stage: the extraordinary life and times of Unė Baye

• The Trailblazer: Jelena Dimitrijević, Serbia’s first feminist author

• From Russia with love: Misia Sert, queen of Paris

Galleries

• Elsa Schiaparelli
• Corsets

• Olga Boznańska

• Silhouettes: a century of female fashion

• Women in World War I

Pro News

• 3 ways to be an activist on International Women's Day

• A Season of Women in Culture and Technology

Media coverage

The Season attracted quite a substantial amount of coverage with 19 articles from 10 countries around the world which you can follow the most exciting ones in our News section. A few examples:

• #Europana – Commission launches online exhibition of outstanding historical European women in arts and sciences

• Las pioneras que transformaron la sociedad europea cuando nadie les escuchaba

• Как идти за мечтой: 5 удивительных женщин в европейской истории

• "Pioniere": Online la mostra sulle donne Europpe che si sono distinte nel campo delle arti e dele scienze

Partnerships: DailyArt and National Museum of Women in the arts

We partnered up withDailyArt and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, featuring four paintings on DailyArt app and four guest articles on the DailyArt magazine. We participated in the Instagram Stories takeover of National Museum of Women in the Arts on 19th of March. Five women artists and their artworks from the collections of five cultural institutions across Europe have been promoted using the popular hashtags #5WomenArtist and featured as a part of a larger movement promoting the role of women in the arts. Moreover, we pledge to support women in the arts.

Guest Articles on DailyArt Magazine

• The Art of portraying Sisters
• Thérèse Schwartze. The Painter of the Amsterdam’s Elite
• Hanna Hirsch-Pauli: Friendship Goals and Feminism in 19th Century Stockholm
• 5 Self-Portraits by Women Artists that You Probably Haven’t Seen (And You Should)

Colouring Book

Building upon the interest and results of the previous colouring books created by Europeana, we decided to create the 4th edition with the theme Women in History. The book featuring 19 openly licensed images from 6 cultural institutions across Europe presented women in various places in times, from the first medieval depiction of a female dentist to suffrage posters. The book was promoted during #ColorOurCollection Campaign, an annual, weeklong colouring event organized by libraries and other cultural institutions worldwide, promoting creativity around openly licensed content available online.

Additionally, the colouring session was held on the 8th of March during the International Women’s Day event at Atria, Institute for Gender Equality and Women's History in Amsterdam. There, Europeana team had a chance to present the book and our activities related to the Women’s History Month.

You can still download the colouring book here.