Women’s and Gender Museums

Abstract

This chapter focusses on Women’s and Gender museums which can be found in 96 countries across the globe. Some of these institutions are virtual, others come in the form of travelling exhibitions whilst others have their own physical spaces with both permanent and temporary exhibitions. What I illustrate in this chapter is how these institutions operate as spaces of feminist adult education, working to (re)historicise (herstory), (re)represent, (re)imagine and (re)educate the past and the present with future intention. Although each institution is distinct with its own cultural and political challenges and opportunities, women’s and gender museums share an epistemological mandate to disrupt the problematic gendered representations and narratives that proliferate in most of the world’s museums and art galleries, as well as across society. Through exhibitions, conferences, seminars, arts-based workshops, talks, university courses, adult literacy classes, podcasts, and collaborations with scholars and women’s organisations, women’s and gender museums work to programme a new feminist consciousness and a basis for action for change by bringing women’s histories and contributions out of the shadows. The pedagogical contributions women’s and gender museums are making to the struggle for socio-gender justice and change makes them valuable resources for feminist adult educators around the world.

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