Do Women Belong in Museums?
By: Julia Petrov, Curator, Western Canadian History
Ladies and Gentlemen’s Pocket Companion, 1800.
Museums have come a long way from the 1800s when a woman was told she was “ought not to present herself alone in a library, or museum.” In fact, according to a 2016 US study, the majority of museum professionals are women. But what about women’s stories in museum galleries?
According to museum researcher Gaby Porter, “…the roles of women as they are represented are relatively passive, shallow, undeveloped, muted and closed; the roles of men are, in contrast, relatively active, deep, highly developed, fully pronounced and open.” That is to say, while men’s stories are told in detail, women are often stereotypically represented in objects related to their traditional social roles, limited to the home, domestic duties, and childrearing. Through this narrow depiction, Porter argues that museums have done a disservice to the real history of women’s contributions to society.
At the Royal Alberta Museum, the department of Western Canadian History has been headed by women for almost 40 years now, and actively collects women’s stories and objects to try to redress this historical imbalance. Some objects in our collection are of the kind typically coded as feminine – textiles and clothing, for example. However, alongside consumer items made for, used by, or marketed towards women, we have items that are not traditionally considered museum-worthy: pregnancy tests, sanitary towels, and “pussy hats.”
Photo courtesy K. Swift, of daughter A. Swift at the Calgary Women’s March. The sign she is holding, which is mounted on a pink butterfly net, is part of the RAM WCH collection.
When I collected items related to the Edmonton and Calgary Women’s March protests held in solidarity with the Washington, D.C. movement last year, I received a fair amount of criticism. Some people were unhappy that the museum was granting these items legitimacy by including them in our collection. However, we believe that a museum has a responsibility to collect history as it evolves, even if it isn’t pleasant or pretty (two characteristics all too often expected of women).
Normie Carlson, daughter of Indian Rights for Indian Women (Alberta branch) founding member Nellie Carlson, reflects on her mother’s activism in a new exhibit in our galleries.
In the new museum, you’ll see several new exhibits from a range of collection departments, sharing stories of remarkable women who helped shape Alberta into what it is today. For example, the "Disinherited Love: Matrimony and the Indian Act" exhibit will share the story of the 'Indian Rights for Indian Women' movement. Our “Edmonton Grads” exhibit honours the astounding international success of one of Canada’s most famous basketball teams. You will also see materials relating to activism on gender and sexuality issues, including buttons, pamphlets, songbooks, and a tribute to Edmonton’s famous “Raging Grannies” in our “Political Protest” case.
Photo of the Edmonton Grads
Photo of objects going into the RAM’s Political Protest exhibit
So, to answer the headline, yes, of course, women belong in museums: as staff, visitors, and subjects of exhibits. Alberta has a long history of women’s active involvement in public life – from the Famous Five on down the generations – and we want to know about, and represent the jobs, skills, interests, and hobbies of all Albertans, of all genders.