women | Europeana Blog

From earth goddess festival to family feast: the roots and guises of ‘Mother’s Day’

Throughout the world, the love, patience, dedication and commitment of mothers are honoured yearly on ‘Mother’s Day’. Many countries and cultures celebrate their mothers in the month of May, and treat the ‘leading lady’ of the family to a day of pampering, presents, festive food and extra doses of hugs. But did you know that […]

Josephine Baker – dancer, spy and freedom fighter

Born into poverty, Josephine Baker reached heights beyond what could have been possible for an African-American woman between the 20s and 60s. She was a polarising force throughout her life as a performer and activist. Seen as a threat to the United States for speaking out against race discrimination, she was loved in France – […]

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

This is a story about a Serbian writer and traveller who chose to lead a very different life to the one expected of a woman born and raised in the patriarchal Serbian society of the 19th and early 20th century. Brave, educated and self-aware, this remarkable woman was a poetess, a novelist, and a writer […]

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

‘Hepeating‘ might be a new word, but the concept it represents is tried and tested. Woman comes up with great idea. Man takes it and passes it off as his own. Man receives great acclaim. Woman doesn’t make a fuss. Add in a dinner party ending in a broken friendship, a courtroom revelation, and escaping […]

Madame de Staël (1766-1817): from the Enlightenment to the Dawn of Romanticism

Writer, republican, literary theoretician and philosopher, Madame de Staël contributed to the diffusion of ideas in Europe through her travels and her Salon, where she received many European intellectuals.

Carving a place for women on statues

If you were to count the statues in your local town, village or city, how many would you find that represent women? Despite women making up more than half of the population of Europe, most of the statues you come across commemorate the lives of men.

Breastfeeding heritage for World Breastfeeding Week

As long as there have been babies, which is quite a long time, there’s been breastfeeding. This week is World Breastfeeding Week – coordinated by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action. In this blog, I look at imagery depicting breastfeeding in Europeana Collections. Portraits of breastfeeding Nowadays, reports of photos of women breastfeeding their babies […]

#5WomenArtists: celebrating female artists from across Europe

Ask someone to name five artists and responses are likely to include famous European names such as Picasso, van Gogh, Monet, da Vinci — all male artists. Ask them to name five women artists, and the question poses more of a challenge. Last year, in honour of Women’s History Month, the National Museum of Women […]