Making Women´s History Visible in Europe

A European Learning Partnership (Grundtvig 2)

Denmark - About the Women’s Museum in Denmark

The Women’s Museum in Denmark is situated in Aarhus at Domkirkepladsen 5 - originally the town hall built in 1857, long before Danish women were allowed to vote. The Women’s Museum in Denmark started as a grassroot movement in the 1980s. The women’s movement of the 1970s helped to bring about interdisciplinary research in the area of women’s studies at Danish universities and teachers’ colleges. It was in this environment that the idea of creating a women’s museum was born. A women’s museum was to be a place where the results of research in women’s studies could be presented for a broad audience, and a place where items relating to the history of women could be collected on an ongoing basis.

The Women’s Museum Association was established in 1983. Approximately twenty jobs were created with the help of the employment policies adopted in Denmark during the 1980s, which was a period of very high unemployment – especially among women. In 1984, the doors to the exhibitions were opened to the general public for the first time. The museum grew, based on the organisational forms of the new women’s movement, including fundamental democracy and collective management, and it involved women of all ages, from all social classes, and having widely differing educational backgrounds in the daily operations of the museum. Collections were built up, and the museum organised exhibitions that were widely acclaimed. In 1991, the Women’s Museum in Denmark was officially recognised by the Danish state as a national speciality museum focusing on the history of women in modern times.

The museum’s collections cover the more traditional women’s roles, in which housework and motherhood were the central elements, but also outstanding female figures, who rebelled against traditions or who forged their own paths in life. The museum owns individual items and entire collections of items relating to both urban and rural culture. These items tell of continuity and change, traditions and breaks between generations, social classes and ethnic groups. Over the years the Women’s Museum has produced a long line of special exhibitions dealing with topical themes – culture-historical exhibitions and art exhibitions. The basic exhibition is called ‘Women’s lives from prehistoric to present time’ showing women’s lives from the early beginning of civilization to our own time. Recurrent themes in the exhibition are birth, work, learning and everyday life as well as power and powerlessness. In small glimpses you will encounter historical portraits of distinct women and of the women’s movements which have participated in changing our history and circumstances. Each year app. 45.000 guests from Denmark and other countries visit the museum.

 You can find more under: www.womensmuseum.dk

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